Del. Kym Taylor and her husband amassed tax liens in the six figures, while Del. Diana M. Fennell resolved a $56,140.86 tax lien last year
Maryland Del. Kym Taylor (District 23, includes South Laurel) and her husband, Steve, amassed tax liens totaling $705,998.58 over the last 10 years, and they still owe money to the state.
Del. Diana M. Fennell (District 47A, includes developments near West Hyattsville metro) settled a $56,140.86 state tax lien last year.
Capital News Service reporters found those tax liens for those Prince George’s County candidates while checking the Maryland court case records of all 235 people running in the June 23 General Assembly primaries.
That search found a total of five candidates who had tax liens within the past decade, thereby signaling they did not pay their taxes on time. All five are Democrats. Out of fairness, CNS excluded candidates whose liens were incurred during a prior marriage or more than 10 years ago.
A lien is a legal claim filed in court against the assets of someone who has not paid a debt.
A single tax lien can result from a dispute on taxes due, a cash crunch or even a clerical error, said Samuel Handwerger, a certified forensic accountant and a lecturer at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.
“But a pattern — multiple liens across multiple years — is a different animal,” Handwerger said. “That usually points to prolonged trouble: chronic cash-flow stress, weak compliance, unpaid payroll or sales tax, or simply a habit of paying late. It isn’t proof of fraud. It is a real financial and compliance red flag, and for someone asking voters for their trust and sound judgment, I think it’s a fair thing to ask about.”
Here are additional details on the tax liens that CNS reporters found as they reviewed the General Assembly candidates’ tax records:
Kym Taylor
Taylor, who has represented 23rd District in the House of Delegates since 2023, had far more tax liens than any of the candidates studied.
State court records show that in the past decade, she and her husband settled five state tax liens totaling $357,263.91 and four federal tax liens totaling $348,734.67. The last two state liens, totaling $276,421.72, were settled on Nov. 13, 2024, and the last federal lien, of $78,063.47, was released in March 2025.
The delegate told Capital News Service that the liens were a result of her and her husband’s business losses, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only three of the liens were filed after 2020.
Taylor and her husband co-founded Family Choice Healthcare, a home care agency for the elderly and those recovering at home from an injury or illness, 25 years ago, Taylor said on her campaign website.
“My husband and I have a complex financial portfolio of investment properties and a successful business, where liens are a common and routine financing tool,” Taylor said in an email.
Handwerger, however, said he would “push back” on the notion that tax liens are a common business financing tool.
“There’s an old, somewhat cynical phrase in my line of work: using the government as the lender of last resort. A business short on cash simply…doesn’t pay,” he noted.
“So is it ‘financing’? In a grubby, after-the-fact sense, sometimes that’s exactly what’s going on,” Handwerger added. “But it isn’t financing in any way I’d want a client doing, and it’s a long way from routine in the sense of normal or advisable.”
While court records show there are no open liens against the Taylors’ property, she indicated that the couple still has taxes to be paid.
“State taxes owed are below $200k and an agreement is in place to address the balance due,” she said via email.
District 23 includes Bowie and Upper Marlboro. Other Democratic candidates for the district’s three delegate seats are Del. Marvin E. Holmes Jr, Michael Bance, Tambei Chiawah, Keenon James, Kris Natesan, Le Shaun P. Quander-Mosley and Rebecca M. Stallworth.
Diana M. Fennell
Fennell, who was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2014, represents District 47A in southwestern Prince George’s County.
Maryland court records show that the IRS filed a tax lien against Fennell’s property on Feb. 10, 2017.
“The tax lien you referenced was fully resolved and officially released as of April 18, 2021,” Fennell said in an email. “This matter has been settled for several years.”
The document Fennell attached to her email to CNS shows that the Internal Revenue Service released its claim on a portion of the lien in April 2021. However, court records available on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search website show a different timeline.
The lien, which was filed in 2017 and totaled $56,140.86, was only partially satisfied in 2021. The judgment remained active until April 2025, when the remaining debt was finally paid off and the lien was resolved.
Other Democratic candidates for District 47A’s two House seats are Del. Julian Ivey and Rocio Treminio-Lopez.
Read Capital News Service voter guide here, and the Streetcar Suburbs voter guide, which includes county candidates, here.