On March 26, 2026, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 287 (“S.B. 287”) into law, establishing a new tax on certain businesses engaged in targeted advertising in the state. The tax, which will be levied beginning January 1, 2027, places Utah among a small but growing number of jurisdictions seeking to tax advertising activity. Overview of the Targeted Advertising Tax S.B. 287 imposes an annual tax on businesses that qualify as “targeted advertising entities,”…
On February 6, 2025, Rhode Island lawmakers heard testimony about Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee’s proposed Digital Advertising Gross Revenue Tax (“RI Ad Tax”). If enacted, the RI Ad Tax, which is included in Governor McKee’s proposed 2026 budget released last month (HB 5076), would be the second of its kind in the U.S. after Maryland’s digital advertising tax. Maryland’s digital advertising tax has been embroiled in litigation since its enactment and we expect the…
On October 17, 2022, a Maryland state judge in the Circuit Court of Anne Arundel County struck down the state’s Digital Advertising Tax (“Digital Ad Tax”) as violating the Internet Tax Freedom Act (“ITFA”) and the Commerce Clause and First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Comcast of California/Maryland/Pennsylvania/Virginia/West Virginia LLC, et al. v. Comptroller of the Treasury of Maryland, Case No. C-02-CV-21-000509 (Md. Cir. Ct. Anne Arundel Cnty.). The judge issued her ruling from the…
Connecticut legislative leaders recently announced support for a digital advertising tax (“Connecticut Digital Advertising Tax”) proposed by the Connecticut Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding (the “Finance Committee”). Connecticut joins Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas, among others, as states with concrete digital advertising tax proposals on the table (and in Maryland’s case, an enacted law).