This Just In...
Kevin Fischer is an award-winning veteran broadcaster who has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for nearly three decades.
Kevin, who is a legislative aide to state Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, “INTERchange,” on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, in Franklin.
Lawmakers want special session on minimum markup law
By Kevin Fischer
Tuesday, Jul 22 2008, 08:15 PM
In an interview last week with the Appleton Post-Crescent, Governor Jim Doyle was given this direct question:
“Is there anything the state can do to ease the (price of gas) burden?”
Here was part of Doyle’s answer:
“I wanted to change our minimum markup law that still requires gas to be marked up at various levels. I've always thought that gas should be treated like other products and not pay the required markup.”
The Governor has claimed he’s against the minimum markup law dating back to his days as Attorney General. Just how sincere is he? We’ll find out very soon.
Today, two of the better members of the state Assembly, state Representatives Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) and Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) asked Governor Doyle to call the Legislature into special session for a vote on repealing Wisconsin’s outmoded minimum markup law.
In a joint press release, Kramer and Vukmir write, “The minimum markup law, passed in 1939, mandates that retailers include a minimum price increase on gasoline, and also prohibits the sale of goods below cost. Last summer, and then again in November of last year, news reports indicated that Wisconsin law prohibits residents from taking advantage of cost savings.”
Kramer and Vukmir suggest repealing the minimum markup law would provide some relief at the pump. I submit a better plan would be to temporarily suspend the gas tax if you want real relief, but that’s not going to happen. Neither will a special session on minimum markup.
Let’s go back to the Governor’s Q and A where he said he favors repeal. He couched his support in his next sentence where he expressed his true sentiments.
“I'm not suggesting that would make things right because what's really at issue are these oil companies that are making the biggest profits in the history of the world.”
He’d much rather have a tax on oil companies and would only call the Legislature back if that was on the table.
Kramer and Vukmir have put forth a good effort, but it’s DOA with this Governor who often doesn’t mean what he says.
UPDATE 7/24:
A new report looks at harmful effect of minimum markup law. Here's the report by WPRI.
This report finds the following:
Wisconsin's minimum markup law adds $990 million to the annual price paid by consumers, between $267 and $278 million of which is beyond what a normal profit margin would yield.
Wisconsin motorists currently pay 30.2 cents per gallon as a result of the minimum markup law. As a result, minimum markup has almost eclipsed the state's 32.9-cent auot fuel tax, which is currently 9th highest in the nation.
As the wholesale price of gas grows, so does the amount per gallon motorists have to pay as a result of minimum markup . In January of 1998, when the wholesale price of gas was 64 cents per gallon, the minimum markup stood at 56.9 cents per gallon, In July of 2008, the wholesale price stands at $3.29 per gallon, with the per-gallon minimum markup amount at 30.2 cents- an increase of 400% in ten years.
In the past year, the amount the minimum markup law adds to a gallon of gas has increased 44%- from 21 cnets per gallon in July of 2007 to 30.2 cents per gallon in June of 2008.
