Kansas Legislature Passes Bill to Phase Out the Mortgage Registration Fee/Tax

In the final hours of the veto session, the legislature passed a bill (HB 2643) to phase out the Mortgage Registration Tax (MRT) over a period of 5 years (the original legislation would have eliminated the MRT upon enactment). The bill also phases in certain per-page fee increases on documents filed with the Register of Deed’s office. The additional fees are meant to offset some of the lost revenue to counties (about $9 million for Johnson County). Johnson County Commission Chair, Ed Eilert, has publicly stated that the County may need to increase the mill levy. The bill was supported by the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Kansas Realtors Association as a way to make bank loans more competitive against the tax-exempt farm credit service loans. Governor Brownback signed the bill into law.