Attorneys on Friday debated the proper jurisdiction for settling a legal challenge to the first-in-the-nation tax on digital advertising during arguments before Maryland’s highest court.
But Jeffrey Friedman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, argued that the tax is “very unconstitutional,” because it targets electronic commerce in violation of the Internet Tax Freedom Act, as well as out-of-state companies in violation of the Dormant Commerce Clause. He also said it targets speech and speakers in violation of the First Amendment.As usual in arguments before the court, the judges had questions for both sides. The jurisdiction of the case was a major focus of their inquiries.
In questioning Bernhardt, Justice Steven Gould asked her a theoretical question. If the legislature passed a law that enacted a tax on real estate transfers only on Black Americans, he asked, would she still argue that they’d have to go through the administrative process? “We don’t have anything like that here,” Bernhardt said. “What we have here is a routine situation where businesses don’t want to pay a particular tax, and they prefer to go into court and get a ruling ahead of time so that they don’t have to comply with the tax law.”then-Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto of the digital ad tax measure to pass the legislation in 2021. The state estimated the tax could raise about $250 million a year to help pay for a sweeping K-12 education measure.
Bernhardt said the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court ruling against the law has greatly chilled but not entirely prevented some tax payments to the office of Comptroller Brooke Lierman, who is the state’s tax collector.
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