Photo via Wikimedia Commons
Disney is quite possibly the biggest and most successful entertainment company in the world. In the time-honored tradition of our new Gilded Age, that means they are due for some absolutely eye-popping tax breaks. A new report from our local daily newspaper reveals that the company could receive over half a billion dollars in tax credits for building their planned campus in Lake Nona.
The Orlando Sentinel requested and received data from the State Department of Economic Opportunity that showed Disney could outlay as much as $864 million in the building of the site for transported California office workers. More than $570 million of that could come back to Disney over two decades in the form of tax breaks via Florida's Capital Investment Tax Credit program. Disney applied for the credit and was approved in February of last year.
“Taxpayer intends to establish a regional campus that will take this international enterprise into the 21st century with a state-of-the-art modern overhaul of the operational software systems that helps drive the success for this company to create an efficient management system,” the application states, revealing that the new headquarters could be as large as 400,000 square feet.
News of the tax breaks comes just a day after Disney wrestled back $8 million in property taxes from Orange County. Walt Disney World filed a tax grievance arguing that the assessed value of their theme park land was inflated between the years 2015 and 2020. The park paid the taxes and contested them in court, with a settlement expected to pay to the tune of multiple millions per year. Funds were held in reserve by the county, anticipating a potential Disney victory.
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