By Brian Witte
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) --The nation's first tax on digital advertising was struck down as unconstitutional by a Maryland judge on Monday. It's a law that attorneys for Big Tech have contended unfairly targets companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon in a separate federal case against the same law.
Judge Alison Asti of Anne Arundel County Circuit Court said the Maryland law violates the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on state interference with interstate commerce. She also ruled that it violates the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, which prohibits discrimination against electronic commerce.
The state estimated the tax on digital advertising could raise about $250 million a year to help pay for a sweeping K-12 education measure to expand early childhood education, increase teacher salaries, boost college and career readiness and help struggling schools.
Raquel Coombs, a spokesperson for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, said the attorney general's office is reviewing the decision to determine next steps. Comptroller Peter Franchot's office also is reviewing the decision, said spokesperson Susan O'Brien.
Verizon Media Inc. and Comcast challenged the law in the state's court. The law also is being challenged in federal court by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for Nov. 29.
The Maryland law's fate in the courts is being closely watched by other states that have also weighed a similar tax for online ads.
The law was enacted last year by the Maryland General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, over the veto of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
The law would have taxed revenue that the affected companies make on digital advertisements shown in Maryland.
The tax rate would have been 2.5% for businesses making more than $100 million in global gross annual revenue; 5% for companies making $1 billion or more; 7.5% for companies making $5 billion or more and 10% for companies making $15 billion or more.
Republican lawmakers cheered the judge's ruling on Monday as "a huge win for Maryland's small businesses who rely on affordable digital advertising to market their services."
"This is a refreshing check on Maryland's Democratic Supermajority who has no problem creating new, one-of-a-kind taxes that violate the First Amendment and tax Maryland's job creators out of business," said Sen. Bryan Simonaire, the Senate minority leader, and Sen. Justin Ready, the Senate minority whip, in a joint statement.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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