Philly Goes After Yuengling For Millions In Unpaid Taxes

The City of Philadelphia has filed a civil lawsuit against Yuengling Brewing Company, alleging that the company owes about $6.6 million in unpaid business taxes. That’s right, you’ve been drinking the beer of alleged tax evaders.

This lawsuit might strike you as strange because Yuengling is local to Philly, but not that local. America’s oldest brewery is based in Pottsville, not Philadelphia. Whether the city want to collect for the use of its roads or for something else, we can’t say really because the city itself won’t say. The Daily News reported that the city has offered no specifics on what taxes are owed, just that there are almost $4 million unpaid with $2.6 million in interest and penalties.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds in (or out of) court, but commenters online seem convinced that this is the work of malevolent unions who have had it out for Yuengling since the unions suddenly disappeared from its business five years ago. The union believes that the company threatened to close if the workers didn’t decertify, and the AFL-CIO in Philly has tried with almost no success to organize a boycott.

So the unions certainly do not love Yuengling. However we’ll have to wait and see if the city is able to clarify why it is demanding all this money. Stay tuned.

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