Disney to lose special tax status

Disney employs 38 lobbyists in Florida’s capital. Each election cycle, the company gives generous campaign contributions to Florida candidates on both sides of the political aisle. Its theme park mega-resort near Orlando attracts about 50 million visitors a year, powering a Central Florida tourism economy that annually generates more than $5 billion in local and state tax revenue.

The upshot: Disney usually gets whatever it wants in Florida.

That era ended Thursday, when the Florida House voted to revoke Disney World’s designation as a special tax district — a privilege that Disney has held for 55 years, effectively allowing the company to self-govern its 25,000-acre theme park complex. The state Senate on Wednesday voted to eliminate the special zone, which is called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Having cleared the way to this outcome with a formal proclamation, Gov. Ron Desantis will almost certainly make the measure official by adding his signature. It would take effect in June of next year.

The swift effort to dissolve Reedy Creek by Florida Republicans has been widely seen as brazen retaliation after Disney, Florida’s largest private employer, paused political donations in the state and condemned a new education law that opponents call “Don’t Say Gay.” Among many things, the law prohibits discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity through the third grade in Florida classrooms and limits it for older students.

“If Disney wants to pick a fight, they chose the wrong guy,” Desantis wrote in a fundraising email to supporters Wednesday. “I will not allow a woke corporation based in California to run our state,” he continued. “Disney has gotten away with special deals from the state of Florida for way too long.”

Disney declined to comment.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District, enacted in 1967 to entice Disney to build a theme park 20 miles south of Orlando, saves the company millions of dollars annually in fees and taxes, experts estimate.

Disney World straddles two counties, Orange and Osceola, that would be required under state law to step in and provide a version of the services currently handled by Reedy Creek, almost certainly leading to increased taxes for those counties’ residents. Orange County’s tax collector, Scott Randolph, has estimated that residents would see property taxes climb by as much as 20%.