Disney Reminds DeSantis of Their Status as the “Largest Taxpayer in Central Florida”

A day after The Walt Disney Company amended its lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing the governor of retaliatory practices and infringing upon “The Mouse’s” First Amendment rights (you can get caught up on all of our coverage here), Disney CEO Bob Iger didn’t hold back when it came to taking on DeSantis during the company’s earnings call. And though he was addressing everyone on the call and those who were reporting on it for the public, Iger’s rhetorical question was directed strictly at an audience of one – DeSantis. “Does the state want us to invest more, employ more and pay more taxes or not?” was the question that Iger raised, knowing full well what the real answer was. “There’s .. a false narrative that we’ve been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this, the Disney CEO said. “But in fact, we’re the largest taxpayer in Central Florida, paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone.”

As for DeSantis claiming that Disney gets special treatment regarding its special district, Iger offers a history lesson to make it clear that the state has benefitted from Disney choosing to do business in the state. “There are about 2000 special districts in Florida, and most were established to foster investment in development. It basically made it easier for us, and others, by the way, to do business in Florida. And we built a business that employs, as we’ve said before, over 75,000 people and attracts tens of millions of people to the state,” Iger explained. “So, while it’s easy to say that the Reedy Creek Special District that was established for us over 50 years ago benefited us, it’s misleading to not also consider how much Disney benefited the state of Florida.” For Iger, DeSantis’ actions are “about one thing and one thing only, and that’s retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation [Flordia’s “Don’t Say Gay” law]” and that the company believes that in “taking that position, we’re merely exercising our right to free speech.”