Maryland Digital Ad Tax Hearings Draw on Waymo, Blimps, Drones

The landmark Maryland Tax Court proceedings on whether the state’s tax on digital ad revenue violates federal law leaned on analogies as the court’s chief judge pressed witnesses on the similarity between online and analog technologies.

The question before Chief Judge Anthony C. Wisniewski this week is whether Maryland’s first-of-its-kind Digital Ad Revenue Tax runs afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits states from taxing electronic commerce if they don’t tax “similar” analog technology.

In consolidated evidentiary hearings that concluded Tuesday, Apple Inc. and Google LLC insisted that their digital ads are indeed akin to their analog ...