Posted on 04/22/2022 2:21:26 PM PDT by Morgana
Ron DeSantis won his war against Disney today as he officially stripped the company of its 55-year-old special privileges that effectively allowed it to self-govern.
The Florida governor wrote into law the plan which scrapped the Reedy Creek Improvement District, meaning the firm will no longer be able to govern itself.
The Republican gave a rousing speech and smiled as he passed the bill alongside a crowd of clapping schoolchildren this afternoon. He slammed the firm for 'marshalling your economic might to attack the parents of my state', adding: 'We view that as a provocation, and we're going to fight back against that.'
The move could have huge tax implications for Disney but there is scope for the district to be reestablished - leaving an avenue to renegotiate its future. The bill will also impact a handful of other similar districts by June 2023, with voting rights groups today suing the state over the new congressional map changes.
Florida's Orange and Osceola counties may also end up saddled with $1billion of debt currently owed by Walt Disney World. The corporation also governs itself and foots the bill for everything from building new roads, to maintaining power lines. Those costs could now shift to the taxpayers in the counties.
They claimed it will diminish black representation and benefit Republicans as they staged a sit-in on the House floor, prayed and sang 'We Shall Overcome' in protest.
Meanwhile the White House again tried to muscle in, with Joe Biden last night slamming the 'ugly' GOP for targeting Disney and claiming it has been taken over by the 'far right'.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The tax base / grand list of the two counties will skyrocket depending on how the Disney real estate is assessed. It would not surprise me if that drives the county tax rates down.
As for the the debt, the State will have to take a hard look at whether some of it was incurred for Disney’s benefit outside of normal municipal purposes. If so, I would expect Disney to be charged for it (and litigation to ensue).
When Mickey is actively helping to groom children for pedophiles, yeah, I’m pulling out the rat poison and going after Mickey. Yes, I know the character is portrayed as a mouse, but they’re all acting like rats so it seems appropriate.
55 years is plenty.
Lately it seems the things turned over by some liberal activist judge end up being made right by a conservative judge. Disney needs to realize that they have already lost in the court of public opinion.
Biden is not a groomer. He's the guy (and others like him) the groomers are preparing the kids for.
Isn’t it odd, this is portrayed as the GOP and DeSantis going after Mickey Mouse, going after Disney?
Because in reviewing the sequence of events which got us to this point, it looks like Disney picked this fight.
So Disney chose poorly in picking this fight, but instead the liberal view is that DeSantis went after Disney for no reason.
Disney chose to enter this fight. Disney chose poorly.
DeSantis is no dummy. Navy Lt, Yale Grad, Harvard Law degree.
The corporate media doesn’t know what to do with this guy. He’s brilliant and plays 4D chess.
“DeSantis isn’t going after Mickey. He’s going after pervs who go after our children.”
Biden’s a perv, so he took it personally.
“Won his war”
Its bigger than DeSantis.
He was just the person in a spot of opportunity to deal with Disney Woke+
We need war crimes trials.
Destroy disney, folks.
Your pings have become my morning coffee reading. Always like to wake to a smile!
Funny, though.
No offense, but photo op children clap when they’re told to clap. They don’t understand obscure tax loopholes. Bring out the parents for the photo op.
Would someone please explain why corporate debt would be moved off Disney’s balance sheet?
If Disney provided roads, electric, water and sewage infrastructure to the area and financed it by loans or credit they might have a case for transferring the debt to the local or state authorities once the district is dissolved.
The $64 question is how much of the $1B of corporate debt is for infrastructure (roads, sewage, electric grid, etc.) or debt on improvements to private property such as new amusement rides, exhibits, buildings, etc.) The latter is not debt that the counties would incur. My estimate is that the vast majority of the $1B is exclusively Walt Disney and will not be transferred over to the counties.
Lastly the counties can now assess the taxes of 25,000 acres and Disney now has to pay taxes, something that has not done for 55 years.
I agree. The process of finding out how much is infrastructure and how much is not would be a battle with accountants and lawyers aplenty. But eventually it would get resolved.
The Disney Company would be paying taxes on what they developed and would probably try to offload the rest of the land that they were not going to develop in the near future.
Oh, yes. Although what you say is almost certainly true, the statement that the state might be on the hook for over a billion dollars of Disney's debt makes for a much more dramatic headline!
And it is a way for a 'journalist' to say, "You fascist Republicans! Now you have shot yourself in the foot! $1 billion dollars that the poor, downtrodden masses must fork over because their neo-nazi governor didn't like enlightened people criticizing his 'Death to Gays' bill! G*d d**n you all!"
“Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties may also end up saddled with $1billion of debt currently owed by Walt Disney World.”
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt). If Disney contracted for the debt, they own paying it back. The Reedy corporation still exists, and while they can file bankruptcy or use other financial tools, they own the debt.
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