Wisconsin remains one of 25 states that maintain some form of minimum markup or “unfair sales” law on its books in 2026.
Though statutes differ in specifics, minimum markup laws generally mandate a fixed margin which wholesalers or retailers must add to their price. In Wisconsin, for example, gas stations are required to charge a retail price on gasoline of at least 9 percent over cost. Unfair sales laws, on the other hand, prohibit selling products below cost, with allowances for limited-time promotions in some cases.
Data for the map were assembled by the Cato Institute’s Freedom in the 50 States project. The report was published in 2023, and data was current as of 2022.
Since Cato’s 2022 data cutoff, three states have materially changed their minimum markup laws: Minnesota repealed its mandatory gas and dairy markups in 2023. Also in 2023, Utah repealed its Unfair Practices Act. In 2025, Oklahoma repealed its 76-year-old Price Control Act’s general 6 percent markup on groceries, gas, and other goods via SB 638, but the state retained its Unfair Sales Act prohibiting below-cost pricing.
Wisconsin lawmakers attempted a repeal in 2024 but it failed to pass, leaving the state’s minimum markup law, “one of the steepest” in the country, according to the Federal Trade Commission, fully intact.
The Badger Institute has covered Wisconsin’s minimum markup laws for decades. In a 2016 special report, the Institute, then known as the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, summarized the FTC’s findings that minimum markup laws “discourage competition, protect small retailers and wholesalers at the expense of consumers, appear arbitrary and are basically unnecessary.”
Other recent Badger Institute coverage includes:
- A report in 2020 on the minimum markup law’s impact on prescription drug costs;
- A chapter in the 2022 edition of “Mandate for Madison” making the case for repeal;
- A viewpoint by Patrick McIlheran discussing the repeal attempt in 2024.
A 2017 study by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty found that minimum markup laws have no statistically significant effect on the number of small businesses or gas stations in a state.
Wyatt Eichholz is a policy and legislative associate at the Badger Institute.
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