Appropriately for Cyber Monday, the MacIver Institute warned last week:

Brett Healy, President of the MacIver Institute, noted that “low prices are actually illegal here in Wisconsin thanks to our antiquated minimum markup law. I cannot believe these evil corporations are trying to give Wisconsinites the lowest possible price this week when we buy the turkey and all the fixings for our Thanksgiving Day meal.” …

Wisconsin’s Unfair Sales Act – otherwise known as the minimum markup law – was first enacted way back in 1939. The law essentially makes it illegal for retailers and wholesalers to sell merchandise at a discount. The law mandates certain products, such as gasoline, be marked up at least 9.18 percent above the wholesale cost.

In October, the MacIver Institute obtained advertisements from Walmarts in the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis areas. On products ranging from DVDs to school supplies, Wisconsin consumers pay up to 150 percent more than Illinoisans or Minnesotans.

The minimum-markup law is not only an archaic relic of the Great Depression (made far worse by Progressive policies), it also is a back-door way for the state to overtax businesses by mandating higher prices (which means more sales tax revenues) and supposed profits (which means more of the highest income taxes in the entire world when coupled with federal corporate income taxes).

A reader later forwarded this graphic:

 

Only a socialist would believe government should be able to tell businesses how to price their products and services.