Professor Shanske Criticizes Maryland Court's Rejection of Digital Ad Tax

In interviews and a recently published memo, Professor Darien Shanske expressed his disagreement with the Maryland Tax Court’s decision to strike down the state’s first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax.

In a trio of Aug. 14 rulings in favor of Apple, Google and Peacock TV, the court rejected the tax as unconstitutionally discriminatory and preempted by federal law. 

Shanske told Bloomberg Tax that the rulings were “an advertisement for appellate review,” adding that “I wonder if the opponents of this tax will one day view their ‘win’ here as a ‘dog catching the car’ kind of moment.”

Shanske also spoke to Tax Notes and Law360 and published a memo that called the court’s decision “full of errors” while laying out his reasons for supporting the tax.

Darien Shanske is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis. His academic interests include taxation, particularly state and local taxation, local government law, public finance, and political theory, particularly jurisprudence.