Big Tech Challenges Maryland’s Pioneering Digital Ad Tax (1)

Four trade associations representing big technology filed a sweeping legal challenge to Maryland’s first-in-the-nation tax on digital advertising just days after the tax was enacted by the state legislature.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Internet Association, NetChoice, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association filed a detailed complaint in federal court in Maryland Thursday, asserting the new “Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax” is clearly discriminatory. The suit lands most of its blows under the Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits discriminatory taxes on electronic commerce. Without a similar tax on newspapers, televisions, and other channels, the trade groups assert ...