Ingham County & Michigan schools to benefit from tax collections

New tax collections on some of the biggest mortgage companies in the United States will now bring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the state of Michigan and Ingham County. The Ingham County Register of Deeds will now require the mortgage giants Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to pay full transfer taxes on all property transfers in which they are the seller. Fannie & Freddie had previously claimed an exemption to tax payment whenever they filed a new deed, due to their claim of being a government entity. However, in response to a US District Court ruling this week, Curtis Hertel Jr. says that these companies have been exposed to be private entities. He intends to begin requiring their tax payment as he would with any other private seller. "Fannie & Freddie have always run their companies in the way that you would expect any private organization to run", said Hertel. "They compensate their highest officers with millions, their shares are publicly bought and sold on Wall Street, and they lobby for their own interests in Washington. They are in pursuit of a profit. I'm glad that the courts have finally recognized that their claim of being an extension of the federal government is nothing more than a tax dodge." The US District Court ruling was in response to a lawsuit by the treasurer of Oakland County, claiming that Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac owed transfer taxes in their county. However, Hertel has his own lawsuit still in court, and the fact that he invited other Michigan counties to join him in a class action could mean a windfall of previously owed tax money into both the county and state. The Oakland County ruling stipulated that Fannie & Freddie would have to retroactively pay the taxes they owed on documents filed since 2005. If the same timeframe is applied to Hertel's lawsuit, it will mean hundreds of thousands for the county, and millions into the state school aid fund. Plus, Hertel now plans to require those taxes to be paid on all such documents going forward, which will mean a substantial annual increase in revenue for the county and state school aid. ''The arguments that were presented in (Oakland's) case actually apply in the class action we have,'' Hertel said. ''I'm pleased that we finally have a legal requirement for these mortgage lenders to pay their fair share.'' Published: Thu, Apr 5, 2012