McDonald’s, Walgreens accused of irregularities over Cook County’s new beverage tax

Fast foods giant and McDonald's and pharmacy store chain Walgreens have been accused of irregularities over the rollout of Cook County's new penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax.

Walgreens stands accused of taxing unsweetened beverages while McDonald's faces accusation of essentially taxing the tax.

McDonald's allegedly added the beverage tax to the subtotal of orders before calculating other sales taxes, which, in turn, resulted in overcharging of taxes, according to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court yesterday.

In a similar development, a Schaumburg resident alleged in a lawsuit filed Friday in Cook County that Walgreens improperly charged the tax on unsweetened sparkling water.

The tax took effect from yesterday and applied to nonalcoholic beverages that were either sugar- or artificially sweetened, including fountain drinks as also bottled and canned beverages.

Chicago resident Yyvan Wojtecki alleges in his lawsuit that he bought food at a McDonald's franchise yesterday and paid 23 cents under the sweetened beverage tax. The 23 cents were combined with the pre-tax price for the rest of his order to arrive at a subtotal, and Wotjecki was then charged sales tax on that amount, the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Wojtecki was overcharged by 2 cents.

The lawsuit said, McDonald's violated the consumer fraud act by charging sales tax on a subtotal that included a charge meant to be collected for the sweetened beverage.

Wojtecki is seeking preliminary, re-payment for the costs of bringing the suit and any other relief granted by the court. He has requested a jury trial.

According to the suit the number of customers harmed by the way McDonald's has added the tax to their orders was currently unknown, according to the suit. If granted class action status, other customers who could have been harmed would be contacted by mail, email, internet post and / or published notice.