A provision that would have taxed advertising, explicitly including ad measurement and effectiveness research, was stripped out of the Governor’s big tax bill, Nebraska L.B. 1.
Following the failures of earlier bills in the Nebraska legislature with the same provisions (L.B. 388 and L.B. 1354), the provisions were again included an omnibus tax bill, this time considered during a special session in Nebraska this summer, at the behest of the governor.
L.B. 1 was eventually pared down to a minor series of tax changes and the ad tax was removed.
The Insights Association, the leading nonprofit trade association for the insights industry, opposed this legislation in concert with a larger coalition of groups.
The 7.5 percent tax on revenue from an "advertising service" would have included "the monitoring and evaluation of website traffic for purposes of determining the effectiveness of an advertising campaign."
Howard Fienberg, Senior VP for the Insights Association, commended Cornhusker state lawmakers for doing the right thing.
“This tax would have increased the costs of advertising measurement and research in Nebraska and discourage informed decision-making. The fallout from the tax would have hit not just larger market research and analytics firms measuring audiences, but also on the audience measurement work conducted by smaller firms for large advertising companies, and on big advertising companies’ insights departments. The Nebraska measurement tax would have needlessly flushed away resources and driven up costs for businesses and consumers. The insights industry hopes that Nebraska policymakers will turn their attention to more fulsome approaches to raising revenue for the state government.”
Based in Washington, DC, Howard is the Insights Association's lobbyist for the marketing research and data analytics industry, focusing primarily on consumer privacy and data security, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), tort reform, and the funding and integrity of the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS).
Howard has more than two decades of public policy experience. Before the Insights Association, he worked in Congress as senior legislative staffer for then-Representatives Christopher Cox (CA-48) and Cliff Stearns (FL-06). He also served more than four years with a science policy think tank, working to improve the understanding of scientific and social research and methodology among journalists and policymakers.
Howard is also co-director of The Census Project, a 900+ member coalition in support of a fair and accurate Census and ACS.
He has also served previously on the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics and and the Association of Government Relations Professionals.
Howard has an MA International Relations from the University of Essex in England and a BA Honors Political Studies from Trent University in Canada, and has obtained the Certified Association Executive (CAE), Professional Lobbying Certificate (PLC) and the Public Policy Certificate (PPC).
When not running advocacy for the Insights Association, Howard enjoys hockey, NFL football, sci-fi and horror movies, playing with his dog, and spending time with family and friends.