A first-of-its-kind state tax on some digital ads has been struck down as a violation of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act by the Maryland Tax Court.
The decision issued Friday morning was in response to three legal challenges filed by Apple, Google and Peacock TV, a streaming service.
“In the context of the ITFA (Internet Tax Freedom Act) … the Court reasons that Congress could not have been any clearer that it did not want internet services of any kind taxed unless other similar services in the broader sense were taxed,” the tax court wrote.
“Using a common-sense approach to define and distinguish digital advertising services from non-digital, the Court finds that currently, in the advertising industry, in academia, and in Maryland households, the provision of digital advertising services is indistinguishable from the provision of non-digital advertising services; they are even more aligned than ‘similar,’” the ruling said. “This perception may change over time as new technologies, capabilities, and public education develop and prosper, but that is the current state of affairs.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Bryan Sears over at Maryland Matters
