During the 2022 legislative session Florida Republicans took actions that distanced themselves from some of Florida’s biggest corporations – Governor DeSantis took on Disney, and the Florida Legislature let a corporate income tax break expire.
The publisher of Floridapolitics.com, Peter Schorsch, tweeted that corporations “got (royally) screwed during Session.” This assessment goes against the traditional narrative that corporate political donations pad Republican campaign accounts and tax breaks and lax regulation follow.
The most public rebuke of corporate interests was on display during the controversy between Governor DeSantis and Disney CEO Bob Chapek as related to the Parental Rights in Education legislation. The controversy made headlines across the U.S. and put the two powerful executives in a very public battle.
A day after Chapek publicly condemned the bill that would ban classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity before fourth grade, DeSantis ripped Disney before a roomful of supporters. He called Disney a “Woke corporation” and criticized its business interests in China.”
But Chapek should not have been surprised by DeSantis’ response.
Last summer DeSantis noted that “if you are in one of these corporations, if you’re a Woke CEO, you want to get involved in our legislative business, look, it’s a free country. … But understand, if you do that, I’m fighting back against you. And I’m going to make sure that people understand your business practices, and anything I don’t like about what you’re doing.”
Following the Disney dust-up, on Friday March 11th, Chepak said that Disney would pause to reevaluate its political campaign contribution policy.
Ironically, on March 12, a Senate bill that would have saved Florida corporations $1.2 billion was “Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.”
The corporate income tax became an issue when the rate fell from 5.5 percent to 4.458 percent in 2019 and 2020 and all the way down to 3.535 percent in 2021. But as of Jan. 1 of this year the rate is back up to 5.5 percent.
Politico reported that organizations that represent the state’s business community pushed during the 2022 session to keep the corporate income tax rate as it had been the past three years. They said to ignore this would mean that Florida businesses would be hit with a $1.2 billion tax hike.”
Some say that the Republican shift away from corporate interest has been in the works for years.
Last year the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) issued a statement signaling it could pull championship events from states that altered the eligibility status of transgender athletes. However, DeSantis signed a transgender sports bill and said “If you don’t want to hold an event in my state, you know what, I got a lot of events in my state.”
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, said that “folks who consider the GOP to be pro-business, that’s not how they have been acting.”
Schorsch noted that the corporate rift “with the GOP is not going to get better … Those folks’ politics, by and large, don’t line up with GOP values.”
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Steve Stewart is a senior contributor at The Florida Capital Star.
Republished with permission.
Florida Republicans Cool on ‘Woke’ Corporations, Let $1.2 Billion Income Tax Break Expire added by Steve Stewart on
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DeSantis is gifting corporations $624 million in tax refunds in May 2022! Ten million goes to Disney.
9 OUT OF 10 CORPORATIONS IN FLORIDA PAY ZERO TAXES!
DeSANTIS IS A LYING CORPORATE SHILL!
Deborah,
At best, your comment is laughable. If DeSantis is such a fascist with no values, then why are people moving to Florida in record numbers.
I’ll wait..
We should do the opposite, reduce corp tax to 0. Taxes should not be used for social manipulation and all corps should be treated equally by the govt regardless of their political beliefs. GOP is being just as bad as Dems on this and any of you who criticize dems when they do this are hypocrits.
Best damn governor in my long lifetime!
@ Mary Miller ,,,,, What you fail to understand is, if the Governor caved to all the Corporate Threats like this one then, it wouldn’t be OUR State, it would be THEIRS.
@ Mary,
Awww how cute, ya tried…
@Deborah,
You are mistaken. The traditional left is finished. The party is now run by socialist nutjobs and has turned there back on the middle class. You’re just too blind to see it. If you think Florida would be in better hands with Gillum then you can’t be helped. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
Technically letting a law expire on it’s preset expiration date is not an action against corporations woke or un-woke.
Had the tax break initially been set up to benefit just woke corporations then I would be more agreeable with the presumption that the expiration was targeted at woke corporations.
Either Deborah Coffey lives in an alternative Universe and is confused, it is opposite day, or April Fool’s Day… pick one.
Governor Ron DeSantis Best Governor in America!
I say it everyday: So blessed Desantis is our Governor, a leader that stands up to the libs ‘woke” agenda and the lapdog mainstream media. The majority of Floridians understand how good we got it and will say it louder in November.
@Deborah, the “fascist cult behavior” that you mention is in the other party. The party whose very platform is to financially cripple the middle class to make more people dependent upon government money to exist.
“If you don’t hold an event in my state…” What our so-called governor fails to understand is this is OUR state, not his personal fiefdom.
Republicans no longer have any “values,” at least not American ones. So, there would be no lining up with Ron DeSantis. Our state of Florida has been exhibiting fascist cult behavior since DeSantis took office.