Disney ’s Private Provision of Public Goods

David BoazQuite aside from the politics of DeSantis vs. Disney, I learned some interesting things inthis article about Disney ’s “special taxing district” and about the private provision of public goods on Disney’s vast Florida property. First off, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) is not a tax break for Disney:Disney pays property taxes to Orange and Osceola County at the same millage rate as all other county taxpayers (totaling nearly $300 million from 2015 to 2020). The Florida Constitution does not allow taxpayers within a county to be treated differentlyunless those taxpayers consent to the creation of a special taxing district to levyadditional taxes on top of the regular county property taxes.And that ’s exactly what RCID has been doing for over 50 years. Disney paysadditional taxes to RCID (at the highest millage rate in the state) to cover expenditures for government ‐​type functions like building permitting, fire and emergency medical services, a power plant, water and waste treatment, trash and recycling, and construction and maintenance of roadways and waterways.And what kind of service quality does this rapacious private company provide over its 25,000 acres (39 square miles)?Theannual budget for fiscal year 2022 is more than $160 million, and RCID uses those funds to maintain a higher standard for these various functions than any local, state, or federal government entity would be able to accomplish...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs