Then again, it probably wasn't anyone's intention to continue to charge consumers the Johnstown Flood Tax that the General Assembly enacted in 1936. The initial 10 percent tax on liquor was supposed to provide temporary funding to flood victims. Instead, the liquor tax was raised to 15 percent in 1963 and then to 18 percent in 1968, where it remains. (The flood tax is in addition to the sales tax of 6 percent in the suburbs and 8 percent in Philadelphia.)