District of Columbia Kills Ad Tax, Replaces With Budget Cuts

A plan to tax advertising in the District of Columbia is no more, after severe pushback from a myriad of industries.

The District’s council voted 11-2 on Thursday for a spending bill amendment that reduced some spending figures to allow elimination of the controversial tax measure.

• “Like many people I literally received thousands of emails against the advertising tax,” said Council member Vince Gray (D) during the vote. “To be clear, these are not painless choices, we’re just at an environment that is incredibly challenging and unprecedented at this point.”
• Council Chairman Phil Mendelson had originally sold ...