DeSantis vs. Disney

Based on the bill @philnotfil linked, they don't get a break on millage.

The County's general rates:

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Disney's bill for one of their properties:

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How can you not understand that yes, they ARE "not having something taken away from them that others get but as pointed out are being brought to the same playing field", but that it is being done as punishment for opposing DeSantis' policy?

How can you not understand that "they get to deal with the consequences of their actions" as punishment for opposing DeSantis' policy?

How can you not understand that if the GOP legislature and the governor had proposed this in isolation, NOT after and in response to Disney's opposing DeSantis' policy, that would NOT have been an unconstitutional abuse of governmental power?

The issue is not in and of itself changing the scenario to put Disney in the same position under which other companies exist. The issue IS for the government to put them in the same position under which other companies exist AS PUNISHMENT FOR OPPOSING DESANTIS' POLICIES.

Surely you have the intelligence to understand this KEY distinction...at least I HOPE you do.

 

I guess that’s why Disney is laughing this off, because they know the legislature doesn’t have the power it thinks it has. Then there’s the campaign contributions republicans aren’t going to get. Since this doesn’t take affect in over a year DeSantis will be booted from office, and more responsible heads will re-establish the affected districts.

 

Mike Lee, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and "Little Marco" Rubio among others are supporting a bill to end the exemption. Lee introduced the bill and the others are or have indicated that they would support or cosponsor the legislation.

 

Reading the cnbc version, it sounds like DeSantis is doing Disney a favor. The county would have to absorb Reedy Creek and pay the salaries of district's employees, as well as take over for covering costs of infrastructure, their billion dollar debt, their $10 million/year operational deficit (which Disney used to cover, but now won't have to), maintaining their massive road projects, fire, police, power, water, sewer, etc.

But then cnbc notes this:

Florida law dictates that special districts created by the legislature can only be dissolved with a majority vote of the district’s landowners. For Reedy Creek, that’s the Walt Disney Company.

Is the legislature going to try to retroactively change that law too, or is all this just some DeSantis bullshit that is going to just waste money with law suits?

I wonder if he's even going to sign it, or just say "a message was sent". What a moron.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/21/florida-set-to-dissolve-disneys-reedy-creek-special-district.html

 

In DeSantis’s Banana Republic, Corporations Must Support the Party

Some observers of Viktor Orban’s slowly tightening grip over Hungary have wondered what response would ensue if a sufficiently determined reactionary implemented the same methods here in the United States. Based on the evidence from Florida, where Ron DeSantis is test-driving his brand of “competent Trumpism,” the answer is, very little.

After DeSantis signed an anti-gay measure, Disney issued a statement condemning it, and suspended its political donations, which had previously included generous support for DeSantis. In retaliation, DeSantis rushed through a measure targeting Disney’s legal status. He is establishing a new norms in Republican politics: Corporations that publicly question the party’s preferred policy, or withhold donations in protest, will be subject to discriminatory policy. If they enjoy favorable regulatory or tax treatment, they can continue to do so on the condition that they stay in the GOP’s political good graces.

This is one way rulers like Orban and Putin hold power. It is a method that, until quite recently, would have been considered unthinkable in the United States. That bright line has been obliterated. Trump and DeSantis have now made it almost unremarkable.

 

I have been telling you where this country is headed. And Florida is leading the way.

 

Yeah, in reality this kind of special purpose district isn't unique. Most new housing developments in Florida these days are part of CDDs (community development districts), which are similar kinds of quasi cities in unincorporated land that build and maintain community infrastructure. That way, the cost of the new roads, sewage, parks, buildings, etc. are split among the homeowners who buy into the community rather than the county at large.

For Disney, it's unclear to me that such a set up is even needed, since they are the only relevant landowner. They could, and probably would, just do all of the same stuff the district does anyways, since it's all built on Disney's property. It seems the original plan may have been for there to be more land owners/residents in the district, which would have allowed for a bit of cost sharing. That obviously didn't happen, so Disney may just say "you want my debt, take it!"

Heck, to get a bit conspiratorial, I wonder if this whole sequence of events is somehow a ruse to get rid of RCID's debt. I mean, Disney doesn't say anything until Don't Say Gay passes, then long time Disney donors get all self righteous and demand that Disney be "punished," but the proposal isn't the obvious one of cutting any Disney tax breaks, instead its to remove their "special" privilege to owe and pay billions in debt?

Makes you wonder.

 

Make sure to watch what you say, too. You may find yourself in the wrong side of an agenda too.

 

I totally share in the laughter here. Obviously for different reasons. But your post did make me laugh.

 

That is truly sad. Exhibit A as to how demagogues become empowered. And this is what demagogues do. They punish those who disagree with them publicly just like this. But, they do it in a way that is popular with a base. People mike you who think that government punishing speech doesn’t implicate the First Amendment because you disagree with the speech. One poster literally posted a Supreme Court case directly in point and you still cling to your view. You even gave the example of China— and candy grasp that this is exactly the same. Fortunately, we have courts for this and the lawsuit will be fun to watch. BTW: they also took significant property rights from Disney without compensation. The only question is how much this costs the taxpayers. You will blanch when you see Disney’s damages.

 

What struck me is that in the days when you have team owners demanding cities build them new stadiums and debacles like Trump's Fox Con deal, it seems like Disney is actually handling their own business and development in a responsible way that doesn't burden tax payers. Take away the Reedy Creek District and then what? Disney leveraging their power as the state's economic behemoth to extract all kinds of "mutually beneficial" projects and deals on the tax payer's dime. Yeah, maybe you are on to something.

 

Why should it cost them anything? Should the power of the government be weilded to punish opposition?

 

If you say so.

 

The American Taliban

 

Because they know the courts are going to strike it down anyway?????

Or

They are going to own the libs and that's all that matters??

 

Boston Mayor Blocks Chick-fil-A Franchise from City over Homophobic Attitude | TIME.com

I agree this is all bad. But if this is the game that's going to be played, don't expect Republicans to lie down anymore.

 

Same problem. Government cannot punish free speech or beliefs or deny benefits for that reason. Now you get the problem with DeSantis. Except DeSantis also took way vested property rights from Disney. Of course the state could defend the taking by imposing the burden to pay for that taking on local governments or Florida taxpayers.