After years of procedural battles, Maryland taxpayers finally have comprehensive merits decisions addressing the state’s first-in-the-nation Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax. The Maryland Tax Court ruled last week in three refund cases that the tax violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, the dormant Commerce Clause, and the Due Process Clause.
The decisions provide a road map for challenges elsewhere, expose structural risks that can’t be dismissed as Maryland-specific, and force the conversation toward the questions that now matter most: how taxpayers preserve refund rights, how states administer disputed taxes during appeals, and whether digital advertising may be taxed differently from comparable advertising without violating federal law.
LINKS
Read "Maryland Digital Ad Tax Rulings Shift Debate to What Comes Next" authored by DeAndré R. Morrow for Bloomberg Tax.