Minimum markup law lives

The State Senate Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to keep the minimum markup law in place. The law, passed in the 1930s, requires wholesalers to add at least 3%, and retailers 6% to the price of gasoline. While this provides a nice cushion to artificially protect some gas stations, it prohibits others from offering more competitive prices to consumers. The article quotes Phil Woodman, president of Woodman's Food Markets, Inc. who supports the repeal.

To illustrate the point, Woodman said his actual cost per gallon for unleaded gasoline, including transportation and taxes, was $2.62 on Sept. 6.

"If the minimum markup applied to that real cost, I could have sold gas to my customers for $2.86 per gallon 30 cents per gallon less than what the law makes me charge," Woodman wrote.

State Sens. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend), Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), and Fred Risser (D-Madison) voted to keep the law despite Gov. Jim Doyle's support for repealing it.