On 4/22/2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill nixing the Walt Disney Company’s sweet tax deal with the state. DeSantis said he was not “comfortable having that type of agenda getting special treatment in my state.” DeSantis resumed his dispute with Disney’s ideological priorities just before signing the bill at a press conference.
The move is expected to have huge tax implications for Disney and further sour the relationship between the Republican-led government and a major political player whose theme parks have transformed Orlando into one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.
For DeSantis, the dispute with Disney is the latest front in a culture war waged over policies battles he has harnessed to make himself one of the most popular Republicans in the country and a likely 2024 presidential candidate. The law would eliminate the Reedy Creek Improvement District, as the 55-year-old Disney government is known, as well as a handful of other similar districts by June 2023. The measure does allow for the districts to be reestablished, leaving an avenue to renegotiate the future of the deal that allows the company to provide services such as zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure.
DeSantis said that the company would end up paying more taxes than it currently does and that the law isn’t expected to cause tax increases for residents around Disney. He gave no additional details. With the special district’s dissolution, the Orlando theme park — one of Florida’s biggest employers — would be subject to the governance of Orange and Osceola Counties. DeSantis addressed concerns that the new structure would saddle those municipalities with current Disney debt, which is estimated at $2 billion, for the services they would pick up.
DeSantis rejected those concerns and said the company would now be confronted with a much higher tax bill that would cover costs. Opened in 1971, the attraction employs about 77,000 people and is one of the most visited theme parks in the world. Enacted in 1967 to attract Disney to Florida, the so-called Reedy Creek Improvement District gives the company near autonomy — including control over police and fire units as well as infrastructure management — at its properties. The controversial legislation is scheduled to take effect in June 2023, a window that could allow the two sides to hammer out a revised deal.
Greene’s pointing out 1776 on the state seal drew laughter and an apparent facepalm from the judge. On 4/22/2022, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene took the stand in a Georgia courtroom. The judge in the administrative hearing in Georgia laughed and appeared to facepalm as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) defended her invocation of our nation’s founding year, 1776, by pointing to the Georgia state seal with “1776” on it hung behind the judge in the courtroom. Greene was facing down an effort by progressives to kick her off the November ballot. Greene testified for about three hours.
On 4/23/2022, defending his stance that appealing the federal mandate should have been a CDC decision, White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci explained it’s a matter of “principle”. “The point that I was making was that this is a public health decision, and I think it’s a bad precedent when decisions about public health issues are made by people, be they judges or what have you, that don’t have experience or expertise in public health,” Fauci told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto.
“I wasn’t at all defying the authority of a judge because when the judge makes a decision, you abide by that decision,” Fauci said. “I was concerned about the principle of having nonpublic health people making public health decisions.”
When asked about the Supreme Court previously striking down President Biden’s eviction moratorium ruling and why Fauci didn’t vouch then for deferment to a health entity, the health expert was unable to explain. “I’m not trying to evade your question, but I have not been involved in looking at the details of that,” Fauci said. “I would have to really go back and take a look at that before I make any statement about evictions.”
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Florida Gov signed bill nixing Disney tax deal, Judge laughs, facepalms after Greene pointing 1776 state seal.