But it hasn’t been done away with. This once temporary tax now generates $200 million a year for the general revenue fund, despite efforts by a few legislators like Marshall to repeal it.
“Since 1997, I think there have been about 13 bills to repeal or reduce the tax,” he recalls.
And all have gone nowhere, says Marshall, because so few people know about this 18 percent hidden tax.
The Johnstown Flood Tax has been with Pennsylvania so long after it finished its job that nobody really thinks it’s going to end any time soon. The key to ending it is public education. If more people know about it and complain to their legislators, it may be repealed.
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In case you're wondering, the 1936 flood was small potatoes compared to the GREAT Johnstown Flood......
The Johnstown Flood (or Great Flood of 1889 as it became known locally) occurred on May 31, 1889. It was the result of the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam (an earthen dam purchased from a defunct canal and then poorly remodeled by an elite Pittsburgh hunting-fishing club including Mellon, Frick, Carnegie, etc.) situated 14 miles upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, made worse by several days of extremely heavy rainfall. The dam's failure unleashed a 35-foot torrent of 20 million tons of water (14,700 acre-feet) virtually scrubbing level the town of Johnstown and its suburbs in under four minutes. The flood killed over 2,200 of the 18,000 residents ...and caused $17 million of damage. (About $500 million in today's dollars.) It was the first major disaster relief effort handled by the new American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton. Support for victims came from all over the United States and 18 foreign countries. After the flood, victims suffered a series of legal defeats in their attempt to recover damages from the dam's owners. Public indignation at that failure prompted a major development in American law—state courts' move from a fault-based regime to strict liability.
My father always said there is no such thing as a temporary tax. He was right and this proves it.
I think there is still a tax included in your phone bill which was to pay for the Spanish-American war in 1898. Who won?
And then dared the IRS to do something about it when no one settled up on April 15.
Ron Paul my ass.
Time to think about ways to put the boot on the necks of the apparatchiks in DC.
Withholding is their nuclear weapon against taxpayers.
What if a candidate for POTUS just came out and said that all Americans who actually PAY income taxes ought to stop withholding.
Good night nurse.
I have a book HISTORY OF THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by WILLIS F JOHNSON published in 1889.
Great read on everything about it. After the flood, there was a huge pile of debris in which electric arch lights were used at night and military explosives used to break up the pile and retrieve bodies. Looters were shot on sight, and most of the looters were found to be those EVIL low brow Eastern Europeans and Huns.
I recommend the book by David McCullough about the earlier flood. It was actually the second relief effort by the Red Cross with the first one being relief for the people suffering in north Texas from a catastrophic draught. My ancestors lived there and some of them including my great grandparents, moved to Purcell, Indian Territory, to escape the devastation. If you’ve ever been to western Oklahoma, then you know that they must have really been desperate. But if you enjoy audio books, get that version. It’s spell binding. Great for listening to in the car.
My grandmother’s brother was working for the railroad and was injured in a train wreck during that flood. I have a letter that one of her other brother’s wrote about the flood, describing the food being airlifted in and just saying that other than her one brother that was in the hospital, they were all fine. The town that they lived (Renovo) in was completely cut off, no way in or out.
They’ll end this tax, and pad it into several others all at the same time.
Too many leeches sucking on the taxpayer.