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.