Clear Channel Outdoor v. Dir., Dept. of Finance Balt. City

Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. v. Director, Department of Finance of Baltimore City, No. 2910, Sept. Term 2018. Opinion filed on January 29, 2020, by Berger, J. EXCISE TAX – FIRST AMENDMENT An excise tax, imposed on the privilege to charge others a fee to use billboard space, does not implicate the First Amendment. EXCISE TAX – FIRST AMENDMENT – COMMUNICATIVE ELEMENTS – EXPRESSIVE ELEMENTS Taxation of a billboard company’s economic privilege does not possess sufficient communicative or expressive elements for the First Amendment to come into play. FIRST AMENDMENT – BILLBOARD DISPLAYS – FEES…