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Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America - 2nd Edition - Loose leaf
Legal Aspects of Doing Business in North America - 2nd Edition - Electronic
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Missouri
Mark F (Thor) Hearne II
Lathrop & Gage Law Offices
St Louis, Missouri, United States
Introduction
Foreign investors and businesses are increasingly finding Missouri to be a profitable
market in which to invest, to market products, to manufacture products, and as a location
to base their headquarters for United States operations. Missouri is located in the center of
the United States and is located within 500 miles of one-third of the United States population.
St Louis, the largest city in Missouri, is the United States third most important center
for headquarters of national corporations and the eleventh most populated metropolitan
area in the United States. Missouri has some of the lowest energy costs of any state, a very
strong educational community including high-tech and corporate research, tremendous
reserve capacity in natural resources which encourage expansion and growth, and is a hub
for air, water, rail, and interstate highway transportation.
St Louis, Missouri is the second largest inland port in the United States, the third largest
rail center, and has the seventh busiest air hub in the nation handling 20 million passengers
per year. St Louis is the location of two United States foreign trade zones (Number 31
and Number 102) which provide legal enclaves where imports and exports can be processed
and stored duty-free.
Missouri became a state in 1821, one of the first states formed in the territory acquired by
the United States from France in the 1803 ‘Louisiana Purchase’.1 Because Missouri was
located at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, the state played an
important role in the development of the Western United States. Today the economy of
Missouri combines the industrial character of the Eastern United States with the agriculture
character of theWestern United States. The state’s population is now over 5 million
people. The cultural heritage of Missouri began with the first French explorers and settlers,
continued with the immigration of English-speaking settlers from the frontier, and
received a strong infusion in the early nineteenth century of German-speaking people.
Other nationalities have contributed to the diversity of residents who are the present-day
descendants of these original settlers.
Missouri
Introduction
Government and Legal System
Forms of Doing Business
Taxes
Other Taxes
Investment Incentives
Financing of Investments
Ownership of Real Estate
Employer-Employee Relations
Marketing of Products and Services
Other Regulation of Business
Appendix
Mark F (Thor) Hearne II Lathrop & Gage Law Offices St Louis, Missouri, United States
