James Fishback, the Florida gubernatorial candidate who proposed a 50% “sin tax” on OnlyFans earnings and publicly claimed creator Sophie Rain would owe the state $42 million under it, finished third in Tuesday’s GOP primary with just 10.5% of the vote. Rain, a Tampa-based creator who says she’s earned more than $100 million from OnlyFans since 2023, told the New York Post on Wednesday she’s “very happy to be keeping my money.”
What Happened
Fishback, a 31-year-old former investor, ran for the Florida GOP gubernatorial nomination on a platform that included a 50% tax specifically targeting OnlyFans and adult-content earnings. He floated the proposal in January 2026, calling it a mechanism to “disincentivize and deter” the adult content industry, and named Sophie Rain specifically in an X post, claiming she’d owe Florida $42 million under it. Rain called the proposal “the irrational thing I’ve ever heard” at the time.
Tuesday’s primary results ended that plan. Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds won the nomination outright with 47.8% of the vote, beating Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (25.2%). Fishback placed third with 10.5%, trailing former state House Speaker Paul Renner (8.5%) for a distant finish. He did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Fishback’s proposed 50% OnlyFans tax ended with his campaign after he won just 10.5% of Tuesday’s Florida GOP primary vote, per Florida election results reported by the New York Post on August 19, 2026.
Public Response and Industry Reaction
Rain, 23, responded directly to the Post following the results:
- “I never believed voters were going to support singling out women and punishing them for doing completely legal work, so yes, I’m very happy to be keeping my money.”
- “[Fishback] wanted to take 50% of my income because he didn’t approve of how I make my living, and now he got about 10% of the vote.”
- “I’ve never had a problem with paying my fair share” — Rain says she already pays millions in taxes monthly.
- “What I had a problem with was a politician deciding that people like me deserved a special ‘sin tax’ because he personally disapproved of our careers.”
Rain also pushed back on the framing of the proposal as fiscally motivated: “If you want to raise teachers’ salaries or pay for kids’ lunches, I’m all for that — but come up with a serious policy instead of using women and content creators as a political punching bag.”
Sophie Rain’s public response framed the primary loss as a rejection of Fishback’s tax proposal specifically, not just his broader campaign — a distinction she made in multiple separate statements to the Post.
Background and Context
Rain is a co-founder and member of the Bop House, a Florida-based content creator compound that its members say generates a combined $15 million per month across its roughly eight residents. She’s been publicly reported as one of OnlyFans’ highest earners since her breakout in 2023, and her earnings — real or estimated — have made her a recurring reference point in conversations about adult creator income, including ViceSnob’s earlier coverage of her earnings claims.
Fishback framed his proposed tax around concerns about “young women” being drawn into adult content work, according to comments he made to NXR Studios in January. Critics, including Rain, characterized the proposal as targeting a legal industry over personal disapproval rather than a genuine revenue mechanism, noting adult creators already pay standard federal and state taxes like any other self-employed earner.
The proposed tax targeted OnlyFans and adult-content earnings specifically rather than adjusting broader state tax policy, which is the core distinction Rain and other creators objected to throughout the campaign.
Career and Platform History
Rain’s public profile grew rapidly in 2023 and 2024 around viral social content, and her OnlyFans earnings claims — including a widely circulated figure crossing $100 million — have made her one of the platform’s most recognized names.
This is the second time in 2026 Rain has publicly responded to Fishback’s proposal, first dismissing it in January and again after his primary loss, making her one of the most consistently vocal creator critics of the plan throughout the election cycle.
ViceSnob’s Take
A targeted tax on one specific, legal industry was always a harder sell than a generic revenue plan, and Tuesday’s results back that up — Fishback finished third out of eleven candidates. Byron Donalds, the Trump-endorsed winner, didn’t campaign on anything resembling Fishback’s proposal. Florida Republican primary voters simply weren’t looking for an adult-industry culture war fight this cycle.
Fishback’s proposal is part of a broader wave of scrutiny facing the creator platform, from proposed taxes to OnlyFans legal battles in 2026.
The bigger story isn’t Sophie Rain’s tax bill. It’s that creator-specific tax proposals keep surfacing in state politics as OnlyFans earnings become impossible to ignore as an economic category — and keep failing when voters get an actual say. Expect this playbook to resurface elsewhere; it just didn’t work in Florida.
Curious how Rain’s earnings stack up against other top creators? Browse our full Creator Database for verified profiles across the platform.
Fishback’s campaign is over, but the underlying policy debate about how creator-economy earnings should be taxed isn’t going anywhere. The next attempt at this kind of proposal will likely come from a state where the adult content industry has a smaller public relations counterweight than Florida’s Bop House creators turned out to have.
FAQ
Q: Did James Fishback’s proposed OnlyFans tax pass?
A: No. The 50% “sin tax” was a campaign proposal, not enacted policy, and it ended when Fishback lost the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary on August 18, 2026.
Q: How much did Fishback claim Sophie Rain would owe under his tax plan?
A: Fishback claimed in a January 2026 X post that Rain would owe Florida $42 million in taxes under his proposed 50% tax on OnlyFans earnings.
Q: Who won the Florida GOP gubernatorial primary?
A: Trump-endorsed Rep. Byron Donalds won with 47.8% of the vote, defeating Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (25.2%) and James Fishback (10.5%), among others.
Q: How much has Sophie Rain reportedly earned from OnlyFans?
A: Rain says she has earned more than $100 million from OnlyFans since 2023, a figure she has publicly repeated, including in her response to Fishback’s primary loss.
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