In this year’s divisive campaign for Florida governor, intense opposition to property taxes unifies the four leading candidates in the GOP primary.
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U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, former House Speaker Paul Renner, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and investor James Fishback are all pushing for cuts that go beyond a proposed Nov. 3 ballot measure to reduce property taxes.
But tax avoidance is no mere campaign promise for two of the candidates. Fishback and Collins fell behind on their own personal tax bills, according to property records.
Fishback, 31, owes more than $5,000 in unpaid property taxes on a Washington, D.C., condo that he bought in 2021, according to District of Columbia property records.
“This is the first I’ve heard of delinquent taxes,” Fishback told the Tampa Bay Times. “I don’t manage my personal taxes. Ultimately, I’m responsible, but there’s somebody on my team who takes care of that.”
As a disabled veteran, Collins, 50, is exempt from paying property taxes on his primary home in Odessa. But Hillsborough County Tax Collector records showed Wednesday that the $716 in fees he owed for stormwater management and solid waste disposal and collection was overdue as of April 1.
When the Tampa Bay Times texted, emailed and left a voice message Wednesday asking about the home’s delinquent taxes, the lieutenant governor’s campaign manager, Ted Veerman, responded an hour later. He said Collins’ wife, Layla, had settled up but would not say when. Records in the tax collector’s office showed the account was paid at 4:43 p.m. — 37 minutes after the campaign was first asked about the unpaid taxes by the Times.
“Jay Collins supports the elimination of taxes so families don’t have to put up with this crap,” Veerman added. “There’s not much here.”
Delinquent taxes hardly disqualify a GOP candidate these days. The tax man, the IRS and the overall government are held in such low esteem by the MAGA base that stiffing any of them could score some political points, especially during a GOP primary.
And the back taxes don’t contradict core campaign planks for either candidate. Fishback and Collins oppose property taxes on homestead properties and support their elimination.
But there’s a law-and-order side to Republicans. Candidates invite a backlash if, during a time when affordability ranks as a top concern with voters, they are perceived to be getting a pass on something that is paid by everyone else, including their opponents.
“The responsible thing to do is to pay it,” said Adam Ross, the Pinellas County tax collector and county GOP chairman. “It’s reasonable to talk about reforming the system, but this just shows irresponsibility if you’re running for the highest office in the state and you’re behind on your taxes.”
The two other leading Republican candidates satisfied their property tax bills. Donalds, the GOP front-runner, paid the $3,121 on his $716,000 home in Naples. Renner paid his $1.1 million Flagler County home’s $20,000 tax bill in November, records show.
The leading Democratic candidate, former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, is all caught up on his $1 million Largo home, too, records show. He pays the $12,512 tax bill in quarterly installments.
Some of Fishback’s overdue taxes go back to 2023. Overall, the unpaid sum has accrued more than $1,600 in penalties and interest, records show.
The Washington, D.C., home, a 600-square-foot efficiency condo built in 1956, had a homestead exemption on it as recently as this year. It’s against the law to claim this exemption for a home that’s not a primary residence.
In April, however, an audit by the taxing authority in Washington flagged the exemption that had been on the property since 2023, said Eric Balliet, a spokesperson with the District of Columbia’s chief financial officer. When the exemption was removed, Fishback was assessed back taxes, along with interest and penalties.
Citing privacy, Balliet didn’t specify why the exemption was removed. The tax office conducts about 300 audits a year to determine if homeowners qualify for the homestead deduction. Balliet said the property owner was informed April 23 that the exemption was removed and that the delinquent back taxes were owed.
Fishback said he hasn’t seen the notification.
He said he’s always lived in Florida. His parents live two blocks away from the Washington condo, and that was why he stayed there about twice a year, he said.
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Yet the condo’s exemption complicates Fishback’s claim that he’s eligible to run for governor. Florida state law requires that candidates for governor be Florida residents for at least seven years before taking office.
Courts typically give candidates the benefit of the doubt on claims of state residency. There is no single determination that proves someone is a resident, but the homestead exemption, which can only be used on primary homes, is an important one.
In the District of Columbia and elsewhere, a property doesn’t get an exemption on it unless the owner applies for it. Yet Fishback said he didn’t request the one on his condo.
Asked how his condo could have received an exemption if he hadn’t requested it, Fishback suggested he was set up.
“D.C. is filled with Democrats,” he said. “They all hate me.”
But Fishback said the loss of his exemption only proves that he’s a Florida resident.
“This is welcome news for our campaign,” he said.
Still, questions about his residency remain. Florida property records show that Fishback paid a $4,386 tax bill in November for a home in Madison County that he says is his primary residence. But while he bought this house in 2022 for $270,000, it doesn’t have a homestead exemption on it. He said that he wasn’t aware he had not claimed it.
On Monday, Collins’ campaign filed a legal challenge to Fishback’s eligibility to be on the ballot. It cited, in part, the homestead exemption on his Washington property.
Regardless of whether Fishback stays on the ballot, the back taxes further muddy his financial history. A federal court order issued last year ruled that he owed his former hedge fund employer, Greenlight Capital, $228,000. Fishback admitted to sending the company’s confidential information to his own email account and trying to launch his own investment fund while working there.
When he refused to pay, Fishback’s financial accounts were garnished, and U.S. marshals seized and sold his Tesla. A New York federal judge said this week that Fishback owed Greenlight more than $1 million in legal fees.
In Collins’ case, when his Odessa home’s assessments for solid waste and stormwater went unpaid, Hillsborough County auctioned the overdue amount to investors. A New Jersey real estate firm won a bid of more than $800 for the overdue amount plus administrative fees. It’s part of a process that allows the county to collect money from investors so it can keep operating on property tax revenue. Investors are betting that the homeowner will pay off the amount, plus interest, so the investors can make a small profit. Meanwhile, homeowners are given about two years to pay off the lien before their homes are auctioned off.
About 3% of homes in Hillsborough get their unpaid taxes bought by investors, but most pay before their homes are auctioned away, said Ashley Conaway, a manager in the county’s tax collector’s office.
When the Collins tax bill was paid off Wednesday, it included more than $100 in extra fees and interest because it was late.
Collins and his wife did pay their taxes on time for a second home, a condo in Venice. They bought it for $253,000 in 2020. Records show they paid that property’s $4,773 tax bill in November.
But the couple doesn’t pay property taxes on their $1.2 million primary home in Odessa, a legal benefit that came from a decorated military career.
A retired U.S. Army first sergeant and Special Forces medic, Collins won two Purple Hearts after he was wounded twice in Afghanistan. In 2007, he was shot in his left arm. Four months later, a mortar explosion wounded him again. Severe back and leg injuries persisted, and, in 2014, doctors amputated Collins’ left leg. He returned to service for another five years as a Green Beret.
The Gary Sinise Foundation built Collins a 3,900-square-foot smart home northwest of Tampa. The foundation, which builds custom homes for severely wounded veterans, donated the home. In August 2021, Collins, his wife and two sons moved in with no mortgage.
The couple applied for a veterans disability property tax exemption in Hillsborough County, which they received in 2024. The exemption covers all ad valorem taxes, which were about $20,000 before the exemption went into effect. About 24,000 homes in Hillsborough get this type of exemption, but it doesn’t cover assessments that pay for stormwater and solid waste services.
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