Orange County’s Corporate Welfare Mystery

By Matthew Falconer

Orange County is placing on the January 31^st election ballot a corporate welfare program known as the “Orange County Economic Development Ad Valorem Tax Exemption Referendum.”

Conservatives call this type of incentive program “corporate welfare” while the grass roots on the left call it “crony capitalism.” With recent failures like Solyndra and schools closing for lack of funds people are asking who is supporting this initiative.

The main driver of the tax breaks to favored corporations is Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs.

In an interesting twist, all three of her former opponents oppose the tax breaks (Bill Segal, Linda Stewart and myself). The tea party groups are united in their opposition and even the Occupy Orlando groups are opposed. So who is supporting the measure and who will get the tax breaks?

Channel 9 asked the Mayor’s office what companies have applied for the tax breaks or expressed interest. The Mayor’s office claimed the applications are “confidential” and cannot be released. One name that surfaced this week as a potential beneficiary was Disney. Disney was a backer of Mayor Jacobs and the government affairs people at Disney have close ties to the Mayor.

Click here to read more: http://www.floridapoliticalpress.com/2012/01/20/orange-county%E2%80%99s-corporate-welfare-mystery/

Tagged Corporate Welfare, Florida, Orange County, Orlando