ANNAPOLIS, MD (AP) – A federal appeals court has directed a lower federal court to consider the merits of a challenge to Maryland’s first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax on First Amendment grounds. But in the decision released Wednesday, the panel of judges agreed with the lower court’s decision to dismiss three other challenges. It’s a law that attorneys for Big Tech have contended unfairly targets companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. The legal case is being closely watched by other states that have also weighed a similar tax for online ads. The law taxes revenue that the affected companies make on digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said he will continue “to defend this transformative legislation and still believe in the validity of this law.”
ANTHONY BROWN