Dear editor,
As you may or may not be aware, a coalition of groups in Kansas is working to repeal the tax charged to record mortgages on real property. Kansas is one of nine states to levy this tax. This tax is based on the amount of the mortgage being recorded and is separate and apart from the recording fee, which is a flat fee designed to cover the costs of recording.
The mortgage tax is $2.60 per each $1,000 of the mortgage amount or $390 for a $150,000 mortgage. This tax is on its face, unfair. Two neighbors who buy identical homes may end up paying very different amounts of taxes simply because one can pay cash and the other needs to borrow funds. Obviously, they will both drive on the same roads and are protected by the same sheriff.
If you obtain a mortgage from one of the community banks in the area, you will pay mortgage tax, if you obtain a mortgage from the Farm Credit System you will not pay the tax; again one borrower is taxed and another is not. It is a tax that is not fair and it is not right.
The Kansas Bankers Association is part of the coalition working to repeal the mortgage tax and we support its efforts.
Glenn A. Buchholz,
President-Iola market
Jerry Dreher,
vice president,
Emprise Bank,
Iola
Letter to the editor — January 16, 2014
