128 THE FISCAL PROBLEM IN MISSOURI 
nearly comparable that they will not show glaring in- 
equalities. 
Although true value in money is the legal standard for 
valuation in Missouri, it is a known fact that only in rare 
instances is property other than certain intangibles assessed 
at its true value. The average piece of real property in the 
state is probably assessed at not more than 55%, of true or 
full value. Other forms of tangible property are also valued 
on a basis much lower than the legal standard. On the 
whole, the legal standard has no real application, except 
possibly in the assessment of bank stock, and in practice the 
assessment procedure represents an attempt by the assessor 
to establish a standard of value at some level considerably 
below the legal standard. 
Even if statutory provision should be made for a fractional 
assessment of 50% or 60%, it does not follow that property 
would be assessed at the required legal standard. To lower 
the legal standard does not necessarily solve the problem. 
This seems to be demonstrated by the experience of Iowa 
with fractional assessment. “If we may take the experience 
of the state of Iowa, which probably has permitted fractional 
assessment longer than any other state, as conclusive, 
nothing can be hoped for from this device. For the actual 
assessment is probably about one fourth or one third of the 
required assessment, which in turn is only 25 per cent of the 
actual value. In any case, all the inducements for under- 
valuation remain. It might even be argued that the lower 
valuation serves to conceal differences in the percentages at 
which different properties are actually assessed.” 
The low actual standard of valuation as compared with 
the legal standard in Missouri may probably be attributed 
to three principal reasons. In the first place, assessment at a 
figure lower than the true value tends to facilitate acceptance 
of the assessment as legal by the taxpayer. Furthermore, 
the assessment at a fraction of the true value tends to conceal 
differences in the ratios of assessed value to true value. In 
other words, a fractional assessment in practice will not 
result so readilv in accusations of inequalities. and assessors 
! Jensen, J. P., The General Property Tax, 1926, p. 87. This work was pre- 
pared for a doctor’s thesis at the University of Chicago.