A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to increase the State excise tax on conveyances to fund additional land conservation programs.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 105‑228.30 reads as rewritten:
"§ 105‑228.30.  Imposition of excise tax; distribution of proceeds.
(a)	An excise tax is levied on each instrument by which any interest in real property is conveyed to another person. The tax rate is two dollars ($2.00) on each five hundred dollars ($500.00) or fractional part thereof of the consideration or value of the interest conveyed. The transferor must pay the tax to the register of deeds of the county in which the real estate is located before recording the instrument of conveyance. If the instrument transfers a parcel of real estate lying in two or more counties, however, the tax must be paid to the register of deeds of the county in which the greater part of the real estate with respect to value lies.
The excise tax on instruments imposed by this Article applies to timber deeds and contracts for the sale of standing timber to the same extent as if these deeds and contracts conveyed an interest in real property.
(b)	The register of deeds of each county must remit the proceeds of the tax levied by this section to the county finance officer. The finance officer of each county must credit thirty‑five percent (35%) of the proceeds to the county's general fund and remit the remaining sixty‑five percent (65%) of the proceeds, less the county's allowance for administrative expenses, to the Department of Revenue on a monthly basis. A county may retain one percent (1%) of the amount of tax proceeds allocated for remittance to the Department of Revenue as compensation for the county's cost in collecting and remitting the State's share of the tax. The Department of Revenue must credit funds remitted to it pursuant to this section as follows: 
(1)	One‑third of the funds to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund established under G.S. 113A‑253.
(2)	One‑third of the funds to the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund established under G.S. 106‑744.
(3)	One‑sixth of the funds to the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund established under G.S. 113‑44.15.
(4)	One‑sixth of the funds to the Natural Heritage Trust Fund established under G.S. 113‑77.7."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007, and applies to conveyances occurring on or after that date.