Minnesota: Counties sue Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

"This is solely a question of law," Freeman said after the conference, regarding the companies' claim of tax exemption. "The question is: 'Are Fannie and Freddie exempt from this law?' We know Fannie and Freddie sold houses and we know they didn't pay the tax."

Specifically, the lawsuit points to Minnesota's deed transfer tax, a tax of 0.33 percent collected on any property sale of more than $500. About 97 percent of the tax funds go to the state and the rest to counties. Hennepin and Ramsey counties were granted, via special legislation, the right to collect an additional sliver of tax dollars for environmental clean-up funds. ''