Posted on 04/19/2022 8:54:18 AM PDT by bitt
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday he’ll seek to eliminate Disney’s special taxing district when the Legislature meets this week, a move that follows the theme park giant’s criticism of a new state ban on sex education for early elementary grades.
Mr. DeSantis told supporters at an event in The Villages that he plans to call on the state Legislature to terminate all special districts enacted in Florida before 1968.
State lawmakers are meeting this week to consider the realignment of congressional districts.
Mr. DeSantis’ announcement specifically targets Disney’s one-of-a-kind special taxing and governing district. It was approved in 1967 at the behest of Walt Disney, who sought independence from state and local governance in order to build and expand his theme park empire.
The district enjoys special autonomy and authority over 39 square miles in Orange and Osceola counties, including the Disney theme parks and resorts, more than 170 miles of roads, and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista.
t’s governed by an independent board of supervisors chosen by landowners
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
They should place Disney in BOTH counties...hahahahahhaha. That will double their paperwork and then the REAL cockroaches and parasites of the government will have to be dealt with..... as well as different building codes, taxing rates for water, school and roads.... OH MY GAWD!! hahahahaha this is going to be so fun.
Wonderful! Never let up!
They are not punishing a private company.
They are removing special benefits that other businesses do not get.
Why?
A better question is why do they get those benefits when others do not?
They bring in $20 Million a day in Orlando on average, so less than 4 days worth. Peanuts!
True but it will cost Disney billions of dollars and would be a decade long project to recreate Disney World in another state. Disney’s best bet would be to stop playing political games and start focusing on entertainment.
Their property in Florida is only valuable as long as they keep drawing tourists to visit.
Disney isn’t going to move. But DeSantis style GOPers are few and far between. Most would never stand up to Disney’s pro-pedophilia policies. Heck that shythead Governor in my State vetoed the ban on fake men in women’s sports. And he’s supposed to be some highly moral public servant. Like most of the GOPers he’s just another corrupt old boy.
Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. If they want to play politics instead of doing their job, then let’s play. Play political games, pay political consequences
I'm not sure what commitments Disney made when they negotiated the deal but clearly the people of Florida thought the economic development that would result was worth the cost.
This is the calculation that's constantly being made when developing tax laws, and companies all over the country have special tax treatment.
Disney's tax situation has been in place for decades and is now being threatened for political, not economic, reasons.
“Does it bother anyone here that the government is trying to punish a private company because of their political speech?”
It bothers me that MANY people on this forum don’t know what “private company” means. Disney is a PUBLIC company. It is owned by investors because it has access to our highly-regulated stock market.
Yes, public and private companies have free speech rights by extension of their owners’ rights. However, a company’s speech should reflect the opinions and voice of its owners (in this case common shareholders). These are not necessarily the board members or employees.
When publicly traded companies engage in political speech representing the view of its executives, they are engaging in in-kind contributions (in some cases), committing criminal acts of malfeasance, and willfully neglecting their fiduciary duties to shareholders. It needs to stop.
Further, in this particular case, taking away a special incentive is not exactly “punishing” them. Why should Disney get special favors from the government that other businesses do not?
Time for explanation: Disney World Florida is a taxing district unto itself. It issues all building permits and acts exactly as a independent city/county does in Florida. They have there own style of legislature, Police Dept, Fire Dept Finance Dept. An Property taxing authority. However being a independent taxing district they pay all of the cost of a city/County into 1 bucket. Yet they have zero state representatives in the Florida Legislature Got it thats the way it was designed the people had zero to do with it strictly state and county governments involved. The idea was to bring jobs into Florida. But what was not realized was with any entertainment business you bring in the crazies from Hollyweird. So thats the bad with the good BTW there quarterly income after expenses is over $7B thats Billion. If they were smart and liberals who are not business people they would shut up make money and be left alone. Its really that simple but no the damn woman has to soot her mouth off and then throw big parties for the re-election of Giggliest the VP to get re-elected?????....I pray Trump appoints Ron to be AG and he starts jailing the FBI and disbands that den of thieves and charlatans that Obama created in his make over of the FBI...
DeSantis isn't going after them for breaking the law. There's a good reason for that - they aren't.
Why should Disney get special favors from the government that other businesses do not?
Because they, like thousands of other companies, negotiated tax breaks in exchange for large investments.
As far as I can tell Disney kept up their end of the deal.
“What tax breaks? They pay $76 million a year in county taxes and the day pass is $109.00”
You always want to be the contrarian and say stupid crap like this. Attention seeking disorder, really. They get tax breaks and you posting what you think they pay doesn’t change that fact. Moron.
Disney’s tax situation has been in place for decades and is now being threatened for political, not economic, reasons.
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Well, no one else in the whole country gets to keep the same tax laws for decades, why should they?
Sorry, it’s time to play hard ball. Democrat’s have been going after political opponents for years.
I’m tired of these woke companies thinking they have the right to dictate policies that will harm the rest of us, either socially or economically. All the while, they are buying favors to enrich themselves.
Also, they didn’t just voice a political opinion. They called the governor, and lobbied state representatives in support of pedophiles. They also declared they they would fight this law in court.
Pretty much the definition of free speech.
Disney has been in Florida for forever.
Their existence, products, services, personnel, assets, etc. are constantly changing by virtue of being a large corporation. Deals are often subject to change.
If Disney has a contract that this legislation violated, they would easily defeat it in court.
No sympathy for Disney. Its executives and employees brought this scrutiny.
Advocating child grooming, delinquency, endangerment, etc. is NOT a free speech issue.
If Disney serves a public good, they should be rewarded. If they harm society, they should be punished.
I’m finding it really hard to understand your reason for defending Disney’s actions. But I’ll suggest that before arguing further, do a simple search on “public company” and “private company” and educate yourself a bit more first.
A simplistic understanding of our rights and liberties (such as free speech) seems to have contributed greatly to the fall of this nation. It’s probably too late to save the Republic. I can’t blame patriots who want to try. Whether saving it or building something in its place, it’s not only important for citizens to engage in the political process, it is also important to educate ourselves to understand the issues.
Pretty much the definition of free speech.
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I call it political influence.
I'm not defending their actions. If they did anything illegal or in violation of their agreement with the state they should be held to account
I don't like the state going after a company because they dislike its politics, and I think people should think through the implications of supporting that kind of activity.
"The right to petition government for redress of grievances is the right to make a complaint to, or seek the assistance of, one's government, without fear of punishment or reprisals."
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