Tech tax opponents are taking a high-tech approach to drumming up support for their repeal movement: launching a Web-only advertising campaign.

The Greater Baltimore Committee yesterday announced they have bought 1.6 million “impressions” of their ad on newspaper Web sites, including this one. The campaigned launched yesterday and will run for 7 days, leading up to legislative hearings in Annapolis next week.

The ads claim that health care, information technology and defense jobs could be lost in Maryland if lawmakers don’t repeal a coming expansion of the sales tax to computer services companies. The tax was enacted in the final hours of last year's special legislative session. It goes into effect July 1 and will apply to Web design, computer repair, data processing and other services.

An aggressive lobbying effort by business groups during the current 90-day legislative session has produced a raft of bills to scrap or water down the tax, though Democratic leaders in Annapolis say repeal is unlikely. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller yesterday reiterated his support for the tax, though he allowed the remote possiblity of an alternative levy taking its place.

Steve Kearney, whose public relations firm represents tech tax opponents, called the GBC campaign "the first time anyone has ever enlisted online advertising as part of an effort to influence public policy in Maryland," outside of political campaigns.