Topeka ? The state collected a record $108.8 million in delinquent taxes during its recently ended 2006 fiscal year, the Department of Revenue announced Tuesday.

Such collections increased by 29 percent, or $24.4 million over fiscal 2005, the department said.

Secretary Joan Wagnon attributed the increased collections to an expansion of the agency’s enforcement staff. In 2005, the department sought permission to hire more employees, and legislators approved the addition of six auditors and 18 field agents, which increased compliance staff by 49 percent.

Also, she said, the department focused on collecting delinquent taxes as quickly as possible because such debts become more difficult to collect as time goes on.

“We’ve started collecting first on current and reasonably new debt, rather than worrying about stuff that’s been hanging around since ’89,” Wagnon said during an interview. “The goal is to try to keep people from getting in so much trouble that they can’t get out of it.”

The previous record for delinquent tax collections was $100.1 million in fiscal 2003. Wagnon noted that it was high that year because the state waived any penalties or interest charges for taxpayers who caught up their bills – something it didn’t do in fiscal 2006.

The department has 37 auditors and 36 field agents who investigate reports that persons or businesses aren’t paying the taxes they owe or collecting taxes from consumers and remitting them to the state.

Wagnon said the department also began reviewing lists of Kansans who are licensed professionals, such as doctors and attorneys, to see whether they’ve paid taxes. Some simply had not.

“There are just a million excuses – like ‘My dog ate my homework.’ They just don’t get it done,” she said. “As far as individuals go, the first time you miss sending your taxes in and nobody says anything about it, you think, ‘Well, maybe next year I don’t need to send anything in.”‘