I don't know if this thread would be better suited for War Room, but I don't really post in there ever. Yesterday, our company (title industry/real estate) had to work with a Minnesota company on a project. At one point, the person I was speaking with said, "What is your Deed Tax and Mortgage Tax?". I informed her that I had no clue what she was talking about. She explained that for every $1,000 of a mortgage being recorded, the state charges $2.30. She then explained for every $1,000 on a conveyance by deed recorded, the state charges $3.30. I told her Indiana has no such thing and that seems ridiculous. She said, "How does Indiana not go bankrupt?"
I had to put things into perspective. I live in a small county with a population of 36,000 people. It is safe to say that the recorder puts on about $500k of deed conveyances and $500k of mortgages per week on average. This would be about $2800 in state revenue per week or $145,600 per year. Now keep in mind, we are a small county with a VERY low cost of living. For simplicity sakes, let's assume we are the average sized county in Indiana and that each county would net about $145,600 per year for the state. I believe there are 93 counties in Indiana. This means the state is collecting $13,540,800 per year if Indiana had these taxes.
I was astonished at the figures. Our average house costs around 100k tops, so I can't imagine what other states would be. Does your state have these taxes? Am I completely off or missing something about these taxes? If your state has these taxes, what is your sales tax? Are your property taxes low?
Here is where I got my figures for Minnesota:
Mortgage registry tax and deed tax
