Request By:
Mr. James Jones
Livingston County Clerk
Smithland, Kentucky 42081
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By William P. Sturm, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter you requested an opinion on the following:
"Is the county clerk required to collect a state tax on chattels mortgages, real estate mortgages and real or personal property conveyances filed by a governmental agency such as Federal Land Bank, Federal Home Administration or Production Credit Association and Savings and Loan Associations?"
The taxes imposed by KRS 142.010 and KRS 142.050 are not to be levied on certain federal instrumentalities. The exemption for Federal Land Banks is found in 12 U.S.C. 2055 which provides:
"Every Federal Land Bank and every Federal Land Bank Association and the capital, reserves, and surplus thereof, and the income derived therefrom shall be exempt from federal, state, municipal and local taxation, except taxes on real estate held by a Federal Land Bank or a Federal Land Bank Association to the same extent, according to its value as other similar property held by other persons is taxed. The mortgages held by the Federal Land Banks and the notes, bonds, debentures, and other obligations issued by the banks or associations shall be deemed and held to be instrumentalities of the Government of the United States and, as such, they and the income therefrom shall be exempt from all federal, state, municipal and local taxation, other than federal income tax liability of the holder thereof under the Public Debt Act of 1941."
A similar exemption is provided Production Credit Associations in 12 U.S.C. 2098.
The Farmers Home Administration has a tax exemption in 7 U.S.C. 1984.
The exemption for Federal Savings and Loan Associations is found in 12 U.S.C. 1464.
If you have any questions concerning ths matter, please contact me.