Friday, March 29, 2002
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Friday, March 29, 2002 |
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Tax Commissioner crowing about tax collections
By JOHN
THOMPSON
In the last four years, the Fulton County Tax Commissioner's office has emphasized collecting back taxes as a way to increase the county's revenues. During a press conference last week, Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand said he is not through in rounding up delinquent taxpayers. "In 1997, tax collection was the worst in the state by all accounts. The delinquent tax roll was at a hefty $208 million. At the end of 2001, the delinquent tax roll stood at $45 million," he said. Ferdinand said the county is currently collecting taxes at a rate of 99.1 percent, which is one of the highest rates in the state. One of the tools his department has used in erasing the delinquent tax roll is selling the tax liens to investors. When he took office in 1997, Ferdinand said he sold $32 million in liens. Last year, the department sold $21 million to investors. Five years, ago the list of delinquent taxpayers featured several big businesses, but are noticeably absent from this year's list. "The entities making up the list today have acquired significant numbers of properties in Atlanta and Fulton County," he said. Ferdinand said most homeowners, big corporations and senior citizens are responsible in paying their taxes. "Today's list of top tax scofflaws constitutes a new breed of tax evader; primarily socially irresponsible investors who are not paying or unable to pay taxes associate with the responsibility of property ownership," he said. The biggest delinquent property taxpayer in the county is National Tax Funding, which has owed more than $2 million in taxes for the last seven years.
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