A service station that offered discounted gas to senior citizens and people supporting youth sports has been ordered by the state to raise its prices.
Center City BP owner Raj Bhandari has been offering senior citizens a 2 cent per gallon price break and discount cards that let sports boosters pay 3 cents less per gallon.
But the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says those deals violate Wisconsin's Unfair Sales Act, which requires stations to sell gas for about 9.2 percent more than the wholesale price.
Bhandari said he received a letter from the state auditor last month saying the state would sue him if he did not raise his prices. The state could penalize him for each discounted gallon he sold, with the fine determined by a judge.
Bhandari, who bought the station a year ago, said he worries customers will think he stopped the discounts because he wants to make more money. About 10 percent of his customers had used the discount cards.
As a kid I can remember when it was a common sight to see a gas station on every corner of local major intersections, and every now and then they'd have a GAS WAR!! The prices would start dropping as they tried to take each other's business. With laws like the one in Wisconsin, where discounts are apparently "unfair", the consumer loses and only the state and federal government tax collectors win.
That's a law that needs to be quickly repealed.
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