PA Man Who “Didn’t Even Make Over $100,000” Gets $34.6 Billion Tax Bill

Barry Tangert, of Mount Joy, Lancaster County got the shock of his life after filing his taxes this year, when the PA Department of Revenue sent him a tax bill for more than $34 billion.

The number was so huge that it didn’t even fit on the bottom line of the bill he was sent. To be exact, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue that said he owed the state $34,576,826,561.47, according to WGAL. 

Tangert told WGAL: “I knew it was an obvious blunder. I don’t even make over $100,000 a year, so there’s no way I could owe anywhere near that.”

“I don’t know if it was a computer glitch in the transmission or if it was an input error from my tax preparer,” he added. 

Tangert said he reached out to the Department of Revenue: “The first thing he said was, ‘You had a good year.’ And I said, ‘I wish’.”

Neither Tangert of WGAL, both of whom reached out to the Department of Revenue at first, got a clarification about how the error happened. 

Later, WGAL was told it “was an isolated incident that stemmed from the wrong numbers being inputted into the system”. 

Barry Tangert’s jaw dropped when he got his latest tax bill. He was charged more than $34 billion in overdue taxes, penalties and interest. https://t.co/smKwkKfwBp

— Dillon Fuhrman (@DFuhrmanKYMA) April 27, 2024