Denying deductions for advertising not just for marijuana sellers but for everyone would be anti-big business, pro-Mom & Pop.
$1 out of every $6 spent on restaurant advertising in America [was] done by McDonald’s. https://www.businessinsider.com/this-one-statistic-shows-how-much-mcdonalds-tries-to-entrench-itself-in-everybodys-minds-2012-3. Mom & Pop rely on word of mouth.
And if a jurisdiction wants to tax facebook and google, denying deductions for advertising would pinch them indirectly via the people who pay them.
Baucus actually supported allowing current deductions for only half of advertising, with the rest amortized over the next five years. Marketing – everything other than cost of goods sold, 280E-style – could fall in that category, maybe.
But there’s the old adage, Don’t pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Or data by the petabyte.
The Center for New Revenue 