America's Oldest Brewery is in debt to the City of Brotherly Love for $6.6 million in back taxes, according to a civil complaint filed in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Jan. 30.
The nine-page lawsuit claims D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., Pottsville, failed to pay business-related taxes, fees and penalties to the City of Philadelphia since December 2008.
David A. Casinelli, chief operating officer at Yuengling, believed it had to do with a dispute the brewery has had with the city in regard to Philadelphia's business privilege tax.
Yuengling sells its products in the Philadelphia area through an independent distributor, Origlio Beverage, 3000 Meetinghouse Road, Philadelphia, Casinelli said Tuesday.
"The wholesaler already pays a business privilege tax for having their business in Philadelphia. Under Pennsylvania state law, the brewery is not allowed to self-distribute. We have to go through an independent business distributor, and where the contingent will probably be is whether or not there will be double taxation and the brewery is liable for a business privilege tax," Casinelli said.
Yuengling hadn't received a copy of the complaint by Tuesday afternoon and Casinelli said the brewery wouldn't have any further comment until the management had a chance to review it.
The lawsuit, authored by Susan M. Crosby, assistant city solicitor for the City of Philadelphia, did not offer details about which taxable business activities Yuengling was responsible for.
"It's the same business they do in Pottsville," Crosby said when contacted Tuesday but she wouldn't be more specific.
"As I told the reporters from The Daily News and from FOX, I am unable to answer any questions about pending litigation outside of referring you to the complaint and the laws that were cited within the complaint," Crosby said.
She referred all questions to Mark S. McDonald, press secretary for Mayor Michael Nutter, but he didn't offer any further information.
"We have a policy of not commenting on pending litigation. So all I can do is refer you to what you've read and any subsequent filings that have been made," McDonald said.
Named in the suit are Richard L. Yuengling Jr., president of D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc., and George R. Smith.
"Smith might have been company vice president. He worked in our office for many, many years but he hasn't been with the company for maybe a decade," Casinelli said.
Yuengling and Smith could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Yuengling has a "Tax Account Number" for the filing and payment of "Business Income and Receipts Taxes by the City's Department of Revenue," according to the civil complaint.
Yuengling and Smith are the "officers" listed on the account, according to the complaint.
In January 2012, Beer Marketer's Insights, Suffern, N.Y., a magazine that tracks the beer industry, called Yuengling the nation's largest independent beer-maker.
According to the magazine, Yuengling sold 2.5 million barrels of beer in 2011, 17 percent more than in 2010. The magazine's 2012 statistics won't be available until March, according to its website at beerinsights.com.
In 2011, Yuengling ranked fourth in the top 50 overall U.S. brewing companies by beer sales volume, according to the Brewers Association, Boulder, Colo., at brewersassociation.org.
The association will announce its 2012 ranking in March, an association spokeswoman said Tuesday.
In 1829, David G. Yuengling established the Eagle Brewery on Centre Street in Pottsville. It burned down in 1831 and a new brewery, D.G. Yuengling & Son, was established at Fifth and Mahantongo streets. The business has become known as "America's Oldest Brewery," according to its website at www.yuengling.com.
In 1999, Yuengling bought a former Stroh's brewery in Tampa, Fla., and opened a second brewery there.
In 2000, Yuengling built Yuengling Beer Co. at Mill Creek, just outside Pottsville. Beer production started there April 1, 2001.
In 2010, Yuengling expanded its Mill Creek brewery, adding two buildings and more fermenting and storage tanks.
In recent years, Yuengling has been busy keeping up with demand and growing its business.
In October 2011, Yuengling started marketing in Ohio. Today, it distributes products in 14 states and the District of Columbia, according to its website.
Those states are: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Alabama, according to the site.