Apple challenges Maryland’s digital advertising tax

Apple is challenging Maryland’s tax on digital advertising in a state tax court after previous legal challenges brought by other companies failed.

Pamela Wood for The Baltimore Banner:
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The tax applies to companies based on the amount of money they make on ads that are shown to Marylanders…

Apple was the first to file an appeal to the Maryland Tax Court, and a hearing is set for Friday. But several other companies have followed with their own appeals in recent days: Google, Amazon Advertising, A9.com (a subsidiary of Amazon), Meta Platforms (parent company of Facebook and Instagram), Yahoo, Twitch, Snap, Microsoft Online, ABC, Peacock TV, IMDB.com, Grubhub and Catalina Marketing.

The tax, Apple argued in court filings, “singles out advertising services delivered over the Internet for taxation while advertising services delivered through other means are expressly excluded from taxation altogether.”

The tax is only paid by companies making at least $100 million per year globally from digital ads… The tax is also inappropriate, according to Apple, because the tax rate is determined largely by how much digital advertising business a company does outside of the state.

Apple argues that the digital ad tax violates multiple federal laws as well as state and federal constitutional protections regarding commerce and due process.

Apple is seeking to have the tax struck down and to be refunded for what it’s paid so far in taxes.

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MacDailyNews Take: This unconstitutional tax should ultimately be ruled as such and the state of Maryland should then be forced to refund all taxes collected via this digital advertising state tax.
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