O’Brien: ‘Time To Collect’ Unpaid Transfer Taxes From Fannie, Freddie
Highly vocal Southern Essex District Register of Deeds John O’Brien thinks Massachusetts should be more like Michigan when it comes to dealing with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
In a statement released this morning, O’Brien called on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay real estate transfer taxes on properties sold in Massachusetts, just as they are now required to do in Michigan after a federal court found the GSEs were not “exempt” entities from excise and real estate transfer taxes.
In March, O’Brien asked the Massachusetts Department of Revenue (DOR) to reverse a policy that allowed Fannie and Freddie to claim exemptions from the transfer taxes that sellers of real estate in the commonwealth are required to pay.
He said today the DOR’s decision is taking too long.
“If I had the authority to do this, my Registry alone would have collected over $200,000 in tax revenue from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since March of this year,” O’Brien said in a statement. “These privately-owned companies are claiming false exemptions and cheating the citizens of this commonwealth from much needed tax revenue.”
“Fannie and Freddie are private corporations that are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. These entities have even told Congress that Congress has no control over their salaries or any right to invoke the freedom of information laws as it relates to them,” O’Brien continued. “Other counties like New Castle County, Delaware, have also ruled that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will no longer be exempt from the transfer taxes on homes that they are selling and are now collecting the tax from them. It’s time Massachusetts does the exact same thing. We have the law and a Michigan federal judge on our side; it is time to collect this transfer tax. This is taxpayer’s money that is needed and could be used to finance key services in our state.”
SOURCE: http://www.bankerandtradesman.com
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I have already wrote the office a thank you note and to please help and educated “everyone” she knows about the fraudulent foreclosures. we need help educating the public. that stopping foreclosures will stop declining property values. everyone write you clerk of court register of deeds ask for help. lets get the word out.
I’ve notified Alabama about this and so far no response. Do they not want to get the money they have lost?
Why keep crying we are broke when there is a wrong been committed that rectifying it could bring money owed to our state that we have been beat out of.
I bet if I owed this money they would sure be on my butt.
What gives?
John O’Brien is awesome. Fannie and Freddie, as he points out, are in the best of all possible positions: they’re “private” companies, but with unlimited taxpayer money at their disposal yet not subject to FOIA or anything else. Fascism at its finest.
Wish we had someone like this in WA. state.Nobody here even wants to admit theres a problem,much less do anything about it.Tried explaining this to our County officials they acted like nothing was going on.
GO JOHN!!!!!
We could sure use a registrar in FL that cared about FL.