Md. Legislature Overrides Hogan Veto of Digital Ad Tax
The Maryland General Assembly enacted a digital sales tax opposed by advertisers. The Senate voted 29-17 Friday to override a veto by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on HB-732. The House overrode the veto Thursday (see 2102110052). At the livestreamed floor…
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vote, Sen. Stephen Hershey (R) said the first-in-the-country state digital tax will hurt small businesses in the midst of a pandemic. Google and Facebook aren’t suffering during COVID-19, countered Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D). “That’s who this bill addresses.” Lawmakers worried about tech companies passing costs to small businesses should support bills (HB-1200/SB-787) up for hearing later this month to prevent that and to exempt news media, he said. Tech companies are too smart to absorb the tax’s costs and will figure a way around the proposed fixes, disagreed Senate Minority Leader Bryan Simonaire (R). The Maryland law "needs to be overturned in the courts," said Dan Jaffe, Association of National Advertisers group executive vice president-government relations. “ANA believes this law will be found to be unconstitutional and violates the Internet Tax Fairness Act that bans discriminatory taxes on Internet digital communications."