Disney brings billions of dollars to the economy of Florida through its several theme parks and tourist experiences.

According to Adam Sacks, President of Tourism Economics, “Disney is also vital to the funding of public services, as it generated taxes of $6.6 billion in 2022, including state and local taxes of $3.1 billion.” Through direct or indirect means, such as employee spending, the local economy is strengthened by Disney World. However, Disney believes they have been overcharged on their property taxes for 2023 and they’re fighting back.

According to FloridaPoltics.com, Disney is suing the Property Appraiser in a dozen or so lawsuits to challenge the assessments on its theme parks, several hotels, and other properties in Florida. Disney is calling the appraised amounts and local property taxes “excessive.”

Disney claims, “The assessments do not represent the just value of the Subject Property as of the lien date because they exceed the market value. … Appraiser has included the value of certain intangible property in the assessments.” The company is looking for the taxes to be removed and reevaluated, to get lower, more accurate taxes, and to be reimbursed legal fees.

This is not the first time Disney has sued over high taxes. They have been regularly suing over taxes since 2015. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board had comments about these latest Disney lawsuits stating, “This is just the latest in Disney’s decades-long campaign to avoid being a good neighbor and paying its fair share.”

“We’re going to look at aligning the district’s interest to join Osceola and Orange (counties) to fight the many lawsuits that Disney has filed to avoid paying their own ad valorem taxes,” said CFTOD Board Chairman, Martin Garcia.

The board continued by adding, “We’re also going to join the counties and yes, the School Boards, in efforts to create more funding for public schools in Central Florida. … We’re going to regulate Disney like every other business in Central Florida.”

According to the court documents, Magic Kingdom was assessed at a value of $513.8 million, EPCOT was assessed at $646.2 million, Hollywood Studios at $526.4 million and Animal Kingdom was $426.2 million. Disney had recently released an economic study that said they created a $40 billion impact in the state in 2022.

Disney has been part of a string of lawsuits recently. The most notorious of these is the Disney v. Ron DeSantis feud, which headed to federal court this past week. Disney is also in a local state fight with the CFTOD board over control of the governing committee. We’ll continue to be on the lookout for more Disney lawsuit updates.

In the meantime, keep following DFB for more Disney news!

18 Disney World Secrets Even Locals Don’t Know

Let us know your thoughts on these latest lawsuits in the comments!

The post NEWS: Disney Files a DOZEN Lawsuits in Battle Against Florida Property Taxes first appeared on the disney food blog.