DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A property tax official in Arizona says Iowa Democratic candidate for governor Fred Hubbell was fined $600 for improperly claiming a home he owns there was a primary residence. Hubbell owns a home in Des Moines that he listed as a primary residence. The designations reduced his property taxes in both states.

Hubbell owns a $2 million home in Scottsdale, Arizona, built in 2007 and it carried the primary residence designation qualifying it for a $600 a year tax credit. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen says a new Arizona law in 2012 cracked down on absentee owners, denying the exemption for homes not permanently occupied. He says more than 100,000 parcels have had the exemption removed.

Hubbell failed to respond to several notices, allowing the assessor to impose a $600 fine and remove the credit in 2014. A $1 million Des Moines home Hubbell owned from 2007 to 2016 also received a homestead exemption of up to $231 a year.
A spokesman for Gov. Kim Reynolds’ campaign criticized Hubbell for talking about wasteful tax giveaways but “when no one is looking he lines his pockets with our tax dollars every chance he gets.”

Hubbell campaign spokeswoman Remi Yamamoto says Maricopa County misclassified many homes and Hubbell’s was one of them, and he’s glad they reclassified it in 2014. She says he’s never asked for nor wanted a $600 rebate.