PUNISHING MICKEY WILL BACKFIRE! TYPICAL REPUBLICAN LUNACY!

 

FLORIDA REPUBLICAN KNEE-JERK STUPIDITY IS GONNA BACKFIRE! 

REPUBLICANS ACT NOW...THINK LATER! 

FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE:

Aw, gee: Look for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to sign the Muzzle Mickey bill soon -- maybe today -- stripping Disney of its ability to govern its own special district around its theme parks.

Look, DeSantis has long hated Disney. He's furious that Donald Duck walks around without pants. He can't understand why Donald and Daisy have never married (maybe they're both gay). And he's quite suspicious of the murky parentage of Donald's nephews.

He's incredulous that Elsa is so determinedly single and that Ursula is clearly a drag queen inspired by Divine. Tiana is obviously a surreptitious promotion of critical race theory, and he's just waiting for the day when Timon and Pumbaa try to live together openly on the Serengeti.

He also hates the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Magical Maths World, with its subtle use of social emotional learning as the Mouses maintain supportive relationships with the Ducks and Goofy and work together on mutual goals (solving addition problems, for example. How subversive.)

So when Disney criticized DeSantis's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law, his decision to exact retribution on a company for engaging in political speech (I thought corporations were people?) and voicing an opinion he didn't like was predictable.

The Muzzle Mickey bill dissolves the 39-square-mile Reedy Creek Improvement District that was created in 1967 especially for the company to build Walt Disney World.

In the district, Disney has municipal powers, because when it was set up, no local government had the wherewithal to handle Walt Disney's massive development. So Disney runs a fire department and EMS (it pays Orange County to use its police force), manages its own utilities (including generating its own electricity), collects trash and disposes of it, handles drainage and flood control, drafts construction codes, and more. The company even issues municipal bonds to pay for these services, and pays itself property taxes.

Before you right-wingers go screaming about Disney getting special treatment, you should know that just about every state has special districts. Think of them as little local governments that are administratively and financially independent, and can issue debt to build infrastructure. There are more than 51,000 of them in the US, including close to 1,850 in Florida.

Anyway, DeSantis's move to punish Disney could backfire. You see all of the services above that Disney provides in its special district? Orange and Osceola counties would now be on the hook for all of that, at taxpayer expense.

Yes, Disney pays property taxes to the counties, but it's unlikely to be enough to cover the massive costs that Disney incurs running its district. Disney also forks over $105 million in revenue every year. That would go away. And remember those municipal bonds that Disney issued to help pay for its district's services? That debt will be transferred to a local government: The communities of Bay Lake or Lake Buena Vista, or Orange and Osceola counties.

By the way, the debt is more than $2 billion. Have a magical day!