Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exempt from Michigan’s state and local real estate transfer taxes, an article in Bloomberg reports. 

A Michigan county sued both mortgage finance companies, arguing that a congressional authorized exemption from “all taxation”didn’t apply to state and county real estate transfer levies, the article explains.

“The statutes at issue here plainly state that the defendants are exempt from ‘all taxation,'” U.S. Circuit Judge David McKeague wrote on behalf of a three-judge panel in Cincinnati, reversing a ruling by a judge in Detroit. “We are not in a position to second-guess Congress and create a new exception in the statute,” he said.