The state Department of Revenue will hire more tax agents this summer to go after tax dodgers. That’s in addition to agents hired last year that have brought in tens of millions of dollars so far.

So far the new tax agents have collected over 57 million dollars in back taxes.

Lawmakers saw the potential to reel in more money, and allotted nine million dollars in next fiscal year’s budget to hire a hundred more agents.

Revenue Department Commissioner Doug MacGuinnitee says most of the money is coming from individuals not paying their taxes.

"Clearly there are plenty of folks out there who for whatever reason decide they don’t owe it or aren’t paying. For the folks who are fully paying they’re in affect subsidizing those who don’t," says MacGuinnitee. "Our role is to minimize that as much as possible and make it fair to everybody."

MacGuinnitee says the department is also strengthening its efforts to crackdown on businesses holding on to sales taxes.

He says his agency has partnered with 17 cities and four counties to share their business records and is calling on more jurisdictions to sign up.

Tags: back taxes, tax agents, 2012 Georgia budget