Most citizens in Fayette County are very well educated and most have a computer or computer access. The idea of the Internet being used for the paying of taxes in our county is an idea that should not sound foreign in the 21st century.

Many people already pay the water bill, electric bill, etc., online. So why not the county taxes?

The county [tax] commissioner’s office handles all the county taxes including property taxes, vehicle registration, and vehicle tags. There are many pros to this proposition, especially for the professional citizens of Fayette County.

The tax commissioner’s office is only open late one day a week, which is a burden to those who have jobs outside of the county. This option would also leave less room for bad checks because the online bill pay option is done using credit cards. Once the payment is made the tax money would be sent directly to the commissioner’s office, with little chance of lost payments.

There is a worry though with the commissioner regarding the processing fees that online bill pay companies institute. It would be fair to say that the processing fee should be passed on to the bill payers at least in the beginning. Paying online even with the processing fee does not hamper the fact that it is much more convenient and less time consuming.

Ideally later on down the road if this option is granted to the Fayette County citizens the debate of whether the commission office should pay the processing fee can be explored further.

I support the tax commissioner on his endeavor to accept payments over the Internet with a credit card from those who would benefit from it. This will not deny anything from those who want to pay face to face the conventional way with a good old fashioned check.

Melanie Poolman
Peachtree City, Ga.

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