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OK, it's on.
Disney has been caught evading taxes
- Thread starter Cognisant
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birdsnestfern
Earthling
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Disney does pay taxes and very large amounts, its likely just the property taxes, which are explained below, they are supposed to be their own government and not owe any property taxes.
The question should be, could Florida survive without Disney being there.
Several states are actually asking Disney to move to it, because it benefits Florida enormously.
I would bet that nothing will happen.
Here are its tax payments:
www.macrotrends.net
Walt Disney World is a for-profit commercial enterprise. As such it is subject to all the taxes of any other business with one exception. The exception is local property taxes. When Disney purchased the nearly 30,000 acres of Central Florida swamp and farm land back in the 1960’s they also worked out a deal with the State of Florida. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was formed as a quasi-governmental agency to govern Disney’s property. What that meant for Disney is they could self govern the building of Walt Disney World including all the canals, roadways, power and waste facilities as well as the hotels and theme parks that these facilities were built to support. They did not have to go through local planning boards and county commissioners to get their permission to build things on their RCID property. Ordinarily, when roads and similar infrastructure is built it is done by the state, county or local municipality which is why citizens pay property taxes to fund these projects. In Disney’s case, since they controlled the RCID, they effectively paid themselves to fund all the projects and no local government received any property taxes from them.
The real question is whether Disney saves any money by not paying property taxes. The amount of infrastructure that Disney has built on this land over the past 55 years is enormous- all self funded which also includes issuing corporate bonds with a current outstanding balance of nearly $1 Billion. In addition, Disney prides itself by building all of its facilities, theme park attractions, hotels, etc to as high a standard or better than any building code in Florida.
Thus, the main benefit to Disney for having the RCID is the ability to avoid local government bureaucracy. They still must adhere to Federal or State laws and certainly must do all the planning for any projects but the approval is internal. And given the high quality of the infrastructure that I have personally observed, that approval is not just a “rubber stamp.”
So the question is what will happen if the State of Florida is successful in rescinding the special RCID. I don’t know if anyone has conducted a thorough analysis of the potential impact on either Disney or the current residents of Orange and Osceola counties that will now have to absorb the responsibility for WDW’s infrastructure and its maintenance. The rescission may or may not cost Disney more money but it will definitely cost them more time and effort to wade through the inevitable bureaucracy to get new projects approved and funded.
But standb- the governor signed the bill to rescind the RCID but it’s not supposed to take effect until June 2023. A lot can happen in 14 months time, including the fact that the residents of RCID must approve of the rescission. That puts the whole process in doubt because the primary residents of the RCID are Disney employees!
The question should be, could Florida survive without Disney being there.
Several states are actually asking Disney to move to it, because it benefits Florida enormously.
I would bet that nothing will happen.
Here are its tax payments:
Disney Income Taxes 2010-2024 | DIS
Disney annual/quarterly income taxes history and growth rate from 2010 to 2024. Income taxes can be defined as the total amount of income tax expense for the given period. <ul style='margin-top:10px;'> <li>Disney income taxes for the quarter ending September 30, 2024 were...
www.macrotrends.net
Walt Disney World is a for-profit commercial enterprise. As such it is subject to all the taxes of any other business with one exception. The exception is local property taxes. When Disney purchased the nearly 30,000 acres of Central Florida swamp and farm land back in the 1960’s they also worked out a deal with the State of Florida. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was formed as a quasi-governmental agency to govern Disney’s property. What that meant for Disney is they could self govern the building of Walt Disney World including all the canals, roadways, power and waste facilities as well as the hotels and theme parks that these facilities were built to support. They did not have to go through local planning boards and county commissioners to get their permission to build things on their RCID property. Ordinarily, when roads and similar infrastructure is built it is done by the state, county or local municipality which is why citizens pay property taxes to fund these projects. In Disney’s case, since they controlled the RCID, they effectively paid themselves to fund all the projects and no local government received any property taxes from them.
The real question is whether Disney saves any money by not paying property taxes. The amount of infrastructure that Disney has built on this land over the past 55 years is enormous- all self funded which also includes issuing corporate bonds with a current outstanding balance of nearly $1 Billion. In addition, Disney prides itself by building all of its facilities, theme park attractions, hotels, etc to as high a standard or better than any building code in Florida.
Thus, the main benefit to Disney for having the RCID is the ability to avoid local government bureaucracy. They still must adhere to Federal or State laws and certainly must do all the planning for any projects but the approval is internal. And given the high quality of the infrastructure that I have personally observed, that approval is not just a “rubber stamp.”
So the question is what will happen if the State of Florida is successful in rescinding the special RCID. I don’t know if anyone has conducted a thorough analysis of the potential impact on either Disney or the current residents of Orange and Osceola counties that will now have to absorb the responsibility for WDW’s infrastructure and its maintenance. The rescission may or may not cost Disney more money but it will definitely cost them more time and effort to wade through the inevitable bureaucracy to get new projects approved and funded.
But standb- the governor signed the bill to rescind the RCID but it’s not supposed to take effect until June 2023. A lot can happen in 14 months time, including the fact that the residents of RCID must approve of the rescission. That puts the whole process in doubt because the primary residents of the RCID are Disney employees!
onesteptwostep
Junior Hegelian
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Under what context is Disney not paying taxes? I thought the feud between DeSantis and Disney was over a long time ago.
EndogenousRebel
Even a mean person is trying their best, right?
If it's within the past couple years nothing would happen
ZenRaiden
One atom of me
All I am going to say to this is.....
Navie but honest question, is there one company the size of Disney that pays taxes properly?
I think its a matter of whack a mole and detective work.
From what I know most people try to evade taxes, even tiny business owners.
Navie but honest question, is there one company the size of Disney that pays taxes properly?
I think its a matter of whack a mole and detective work.
From what I know most people try to evade taxes, even tiny business owners.