Senate panel approves limits on sale of tax liens

The Senate Finance Committee passed a tax reform bill Friday that, among other tax reform measures, would make county tax commissioners wait one year before selling property tax liens to private third parties and prevent them from selling tax liens that are under appeal.

Fulton County is the only county in the state that relies on the sale of tax liens as its primary method of collecting delinquent taxes.

Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, who sponsored Senate Bill 234, said the sale of tax liens has become a “nightmare” for many property owners and suggested the Senate may want to ban the practice entirely in the future.