A proposal could make its way through the Georgia Legislature this coming session which would allow Georgia cities and counties to hire private firms to handle their tax collection in lieu of the state Department of Revenue.

It’s an idea supported by Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon, who thinks the initiative will provide better data on which to judge the economic impact of tourism events.

Logsdon also said he thinks a private contractor could improve on tax collection rates as well.

Logsdon shared his support for the measure by testifying in a hearing last week at the state capital.

The detailed data Logsdon seeks is unavailable from the Georgia Department of Revenue under the current tax collection system, the mayor said. But he thinks a private contractor could make it happen.

The mayor said he was optimistic that the proposed bill would be drafted and he hopes to get a look at it before its introduced as legislation to be considered by the assembly. He guessed that if such a bill were approved it would be up to Fayette County to decide if it wanted to have a private company assume the tax collecting duties here.

Logsdon has long been a proponent of requiring all merchants to submit sales tax information electronically straight from the register. He points to a change made a few years back in which the state switched its motor vehicle fuel sales tax collection from individual stores to the gas distributors.

The net gain from the switch was a 21 percent revenue increase, Logsdon said. Applying that logic to Peachtree City’s sales tax collections, the city could see an additional $1.7 million and the state could see an uptick of $1.2 billion, Logsdon said.

The plus is that those additional revenues would not be a new tax, but merely stronger enforcement of the current tax structure, Logsdon added.

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