On March 16, 2021, Chris Moran was quoted in Bloomberg Law on Maryland’s digital advertisement tax, which is setting the stage for broader arguments over state authority to tax a wider swath of commerce occurring over the internet.
According to the article, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and three other trade associations filed suit last month to strike down Maryland’s recently passed tax on digital advertisements, arguing the first-of-its-kind levy violates the Internet Tax Freedom Act by imposing “discriminatory taxes” on e-commerce. The lawsuit is being closely watched by other jurisdictions. Since Congress passed the internet tax law in 1998, placing a moratorium on taxing internet activity, annual digital ad revenues have swelled—from $1.92 billion in 1998 to $124.6 billion in 2019—a marked increase.
There’s a “pretty good chance” the court would agree with the argument over the Internet Tax Freedom Act, but “there’s also a chance—maybe a little slimmer—that a judge says the internet tax law is unconstitutional,“ said Moran.
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