re: FL taxpayers to absorb over 1 billion in bond obligations due to Disney exemption repeal

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I am assuming most of you still go to church, and both Catholics and the Evangelicals have historical GOAT status when it comes to that.

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I really doubt Desantis, the Florida House, and Florida are going to frick the taxpayers over just to get back at Disney

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I can't fully believe any argument that implies the special tax status of Disney actually hurt them, which is what is happening when it's claimed that this change helps Disney.

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Because saying this is a “tax exempt” issue is as accurate as saying “don’t say gay”

Disney doesn’t have a tax exempt status. They pay 100s of millions in taxes. The just of the reedy creek development is Disney controls their own infrastructure. By removing the exemption, the current bonds fall in the tax payers

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The law created a special taxing district, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) which would have "same authority and responsibility" as a county government, including providing "essential" public services, such as firefighters and police. The RCID can also impose taxes and run government services from that revenue. The law also created two cities, the municipalities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake which are currently within the boundary of Walt Disney World…

The law also states that the governing body of the RCID, the board of supervisors, is chosen by the landowners inside the district, with Disney as the largest landowner in the district. According to Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor, the law essentially gives Disney the "power of self-government" inside the defined district…

Board members are non-Disney business people from central Florida and must own at least an acre [4,000 m²] in the district." An Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability report explains the contractual arrangement as follows: "Historically, each board member has been deeded approximately five acres [20,000 m²] of land by an affiliate of the Walt Disney World Co. . . . According to RCID officials, a Walt Disney World Co. affiliate has the exclusive option to purchase land back from board members at any time."

"Disney pays taxes to Reedy Creek, which gives the money straight back to Disney, and the circle is closed”

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But most important is Reedy Creek's ability to collect taxes and issue bonds. For the current fiscal year, the district has a budget of more than $169 million — more than 90 percent of which comes from the collection of property taxes on Disney's real estate.

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Imagine if Disney had to go through its local planning and zoning board to build a new castle. Or if it suddenly had to rely on Orange County, Florida, and other local jurisdictions to pick up its trash.

Or if it could no longer sell its own bonds to build roads in its parks.

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On April 19, 2022, Republican Representative Randy Fine and Republican Senator Jennifer Bradley filed identical bills that would dissolve any "special independent district" established before the November 5, 1968 ratification of the Constitution of Florida, with dissolution would occurring on July 1, 2023, while any districts that wanted to be re-established could do so using existing legal procedures.

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