The Reading & Northern is once again at odd with the Pennsylvania borough of Jim Thorpe and that might thwart plans to resume tourist railroad operations there.
R&N last year shut down its Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway operations in Jim Thorpe in protest of an amusement tax the city wanted to levy on tickets sold.
The two sides had apparently reached an agreement in February settling the dispute but now R&N is opposed to a proposed city ordinance to exempt the Lehigh Gorge from the tax.
R&N had argued last year and continues to claim that it is not subject to nor will ever be subject to an amusement tax and it won’t return the Lehigh Gorge to Jim Thorpe without a written agreement standing that it doesn’t owe the tax.
The borough said in a news release it can’t agree to those terms.
The dispute had come to a head last fall after the borough and a local school district sought almost $100,000 in back amusement taxes.
The R&N said it is not an amusement said it won’t “pay any so-called amusement tax.”
Tags: Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, Pennsylvania tourist railroads, Reading & Northern, tourist railroads
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