Ohio & Maryland’s Billboard Advertisement Tax v. the First Amendment and the U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari and will review a brief of opposition filed on February 25, 2022, in Cincinnati, Ohio by Lamar Advantage GP Company, LLC and Norton Outdoor Advertising, Inc. The question presented is whether a Cincinnati excise tax singling out billboards is subject to heightened scrutiny under the First Amendment.
“Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...”
OUTDOOR ADVERTISING SIGN TAX
Cincinnati’s billboard tax, known as the “outdoor advertising sign” tax, was enacted in 2018 and imposed on “advertising hosts” who own or control outdoor advertising signs. The tax applies only to billboard owners, excluding other sign publishers, other forms of media and other businesses. The advertising host is responsible for paying a tax of the greater of (1) a 7% of the gross receipts cost of the sign, or (2) an annual amount based on the size and type of display.
The Ohio Court of Common Pleas ultimately decided that the tax “directly and unequivocally isolated and targeted for taxation” a small group of taxpayers and imposed a tax on billboards even though they are instruments of exercising First Amendment rights. The U.S. Supreme Court will address this potential violation of First Amendment rights as well as the fundamental difference between two states reaching different conclusions on the same issue.
Ultimately, the inconsistencies between Ohio and Maryland’s decisions warranted a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief filed by Lamar Advantage and Norton Outdoor Advertising highlights that there is now an “unambiguous conflict between two state courts of last resort on an important question of First Amendment law.”