Washington – Today the Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, along with co-plaintiffs U.S. Chamber of Commerce and NetChoice, explaining why the Maryland Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax Act violates the First Amendment. This statute, which we have challenged since its enactment, imposes a tax on a website’s global revenues but prevents the site from revealing the tax burden to its users.
The State of Maryland has admitted that the statute regulates speech. As today’s appellate brief explains, this speech regulation is an outright ban on websites communicating with users about their costs of service — communications that amount to political speech. This regulation does not meet the First Amendment standard for when a government can ban such speech.
For years, CCIA has been at the forefront of protecting online speech from governmental intrusion.
The following can be attributed to Stephanie Joyce, Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff:
“It is unconstitutional when the government attempts to muzzle lawful speech. This statute forces websites to pay substantial portions of their global revenue to the state but hide these costs from consumers. The state is wholly unable to justify this speech ban.”
