"Case in point, digital advertising costs are about to jump roughly 10% for Washington businesses thanks to a record tax package rammed through the legislature last spring. In total, the new tax package is expected to generate more than $9 billion to prop up state spending in the current budget. Just over one billion will come from extending the retail sales tax to "advertising services" and several high-tech categories (IT support, custom software and website development, security, temporary staffing, and more)."
"In what can only be described as an obvious response, Comcast is suing the state over it. The complaint argues the advertising provision violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act ( ITFA), which forbids states from imposing taxes that discriminate against "electronic commerce." Taxing online advertising while exempting most traditional media is a textbook example of what the federal law was designed to preclude. The company is asking the court to declare the law invalid and stop Washington from enforcing it."
Washington enacted a record tax package expected to raise over $9 billion, with just over $1 billion from extending the retail sales tax to advertising services and several high-tech categories including IT support, custom software and website development, security, and temporary staffing. The change will raise digital advertising costs roughly 10% for Washington businesses while exempting most non-digital advertising such as radio, TV, and newspapers, benefiting legacy media. Comcast sued, arguing the provision violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act by discriminating against electronic commerce, and similar taxes have faced constitutional rulings in Maryland.
Read at The Olympian
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]