A candidate for Tampa city council district two has built up a large amount of unpaid taxes during the past several years.
Tax documents from the Hillsborough Clerk of Court website name candidate Mike Suarez as owing $63,750 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as of June of last year.
The unpaid taxes started in 2012, but the largest unpaid amounts occurred from 2016-2018. In those years, Suarez collectively failed to pay $46,207. Last year, the IRS placed a lien against Suarez, which is a legal claim asking for property after ongoing nonpayment of taxes.
Today, Suarez told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay he’s sent a check to the IRS within the past week to make things right.
“It will be paid off or has been paid off,” Suarez said. “I don't know when they're going to receive the check, it was sent directly. And so my guess is that it'll probably happen this week or maybe next week.”
CL has reached out to a media contact at the IRS to see if the organization has received the check he says he sent.
When asked how the unpaid taxes were accrued, Suarez said he was misled by the person who was handling his taxes.
“When you're getting bad advice and not knowing that you are getting bad advice, you have to pay regardless,” Suarez said. “We make mistakes in life and pay for them, and I am paying for them, dearly.”
He added that he has since parted ways with the tax advisor, and that he only used funds from his personal assets and bank accounts to pay off the debt. Suarez’ wife is also named in the tax document and the IRS department handling the claim is the “small business” department. However, Suarez, 58, said that all of the owed money is based on his personal taxes, and didn’t understand why the document names the business department.
He’s a former Tampa city council member who served for two terms before running an unsuccessful campaign for mayor against Jane Castor in 2019.
Currently, he’s running against Michael Derewenko, Guido Maniscalco, Robin Lockett and Gary Pruitt.
A big part of city council’s job is making decisions for Tampa’s budget.
Suarez said that despite the issues with his own finances, his time as a leader gives him the experience that people can rely on.
“This is more of a burden for me, than it is for the people of the City of Tampa,” Suarez told CL. “Part of the reason why you run for council is to show who you are and going forward. If someone is not going to vote for me because I've now paid off my taxes, then that's OK, too.”
Suarez is not the only candidate for council to face financial woes this election season. Earlier this month, CL first reported that city council chair and candidate for district one, Joe Citro, was having his council paycheck garnished for unpaid debt.
Suarez said he’s looking forward to what develops in the council race during the coming months. He noted that it’s a saying in Tampa that the municipal races don’t really heat up until after Gasparilla, which happened last weekend.
“Now, the race has really started,” he said.
Early voting for Tampa’s elections begins Feb. 27. Voting by mail ballots must be requested by Feb. 25, due to a new law passed by Governor Ron DeSantis. Election Day is Tuesday, March 7, with the polls closing at 7 p.m.