SB 469

On all transfers of realty, present law requires a privilege tax be paid to record such transfer , for state purposes only, of 37¢ per $10 0 on property, with certain exceptions. Also, p rior to the public recordation of any instru ment evidencing an indebtedness , there must be paid a tax, for state purposes only, of 11.5¢ on each $100 of the indebtedness so evidenced. The county register and other officials charged with the collection of such taxes must report all collections to th e department of revenue . For collecting and reporting recordation taxes, county registers are entitled to retain as commission 5% of the taxes so collected. However , 52% of the 5% commission must be remitted to the state treasurer and credited to the gen eral fund of the state. This bill requires, for the 5 % commission to be retained by county registers , 50% to be transferred and deposited in the county general fund without being designated for a specific purpose. Th e remainder of the taxes collected mu st be remitted to the state treasurer to be deposited to the special agency accounts designated by present law , subject to certain allocation s as outlined below , and to the general fund of the state. Present law requires such special agency accounts to b e allocated certain amounts: 3.25¢ of the tax levied to be credited to the wetland acquisition fund, 1.75¢ to the local parks land acquisition fund, 1.5¢ to the state lands acquisition fund, and 1.5¢ to the agricultural resources conservation fund. Howev er, beginning with fiscal year 2015-2016, 50% of the total growth in collections of recordation tax over the previous fiscal year and deposited to the above special funds must be transferred and credited elsewhere: 64% of the growth funds must be transfer red and credited to the Tennessee Civil War or War Between the States site preservation fund , and 36% must be transferred and credited to the historic property land acquisition fund.