Disney (DIS) CEO Bob Iger had a question for Florida Wednesday as he discussed the company’s ongoing legal feud with Governor Ron DeSantis.

"Does the state want us to invest more, employ more people, and pay more taxes, or not?" he said on Disney’s second-quarter conference call.

The comments were a reference to plans the company had to invest more than $17 billion over the next decade in its Walt Disney World resort, creating 13,000 jobs. That, he said, “is what the state should want us to do.”

Instead, the company says those plans are stymied by a dispute that began last year when Disney opposed a state parental rights bill that prohibited educators from leading classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students in kindergarten through third grade.

Florida stripped the company of power it held for 55 years to self-govern a special tax district that houses Walt Disney World and roughly 25,000 acres surrounding it, spawning dueling lawsuits in different courts.

Disney’s suit alleges the state punished the company for its stance on the parental rights bill, thus violating Disney’s constitutional rights.

Iger reiterated that point Wednesday.

“This is about one thing and one thing only,” he said, “and that's retaliating against us for taking a position about pending legislation. And we believe that in us taking that position, we are merely exercising our right to free speech."

Iger also tried to dispel theories that Disney used litigation to preserve tax benefits for the entertainment giant.

"There's also a false narrative that we've been fighting to protect tax breaks as part of this,” he said. “But in fact, we're the largest taxpayer in central Florida, paying over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes last year alone. And we pay more taxes, specifically more real estate taxes as a result of that special district," he said.

"We're not the only company operating a special district," Iger said, noting that 2,000 such districts exist in the state. "The Daytona Speedway, it has one. So do The Villages, which is a prominent retirement community, and there are countless others."

Disney's district is one of six special districts approved prior to Florida's adoption of its 1968 Constitution, and as a result is subject to less stringent rules.

“We never wanted…and we certainly never expected to be in the position of having to defend our business interests in federal court,” he added. “Particularly having such a terrific relationship with the state, as we've had for more than 50 years.”

DeSantis and the state legislature passed a series of laws over the last year that are at issue. One signed last Friday allows a board that the governor appointed to oversee the special tax district to retroactively cancel land development contracts approved by a prior Disney-controlled board.

Disney amended its federal suit to reference that latest piece of legislation.

In response, DeSantis' office told Yahoo Finance, "Development agreements, as creations of state law, are plainly subject to revocation by subsequently enacted state law."

"Disney’s latest move is yet another desperate attempt to maintain their special privileges and ignore the will of Floridians as expressed through their duly elected representatives. Disney should accept that it must live under the same rules as everyone else."

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at [email protected]

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