Madison, WI – It’s Labor Day weekend and Wisconsin grocers want to provide quality food for gatherings across the state. They don’t want to be in the middle of an international policy discussion.
The net effect of the Tariff Tax Transparency Act will be additional costs and greater regulatory burden, not clarity.
Many elected officials who are upset about federal policy and are struggling to determine the impact on pricing. It’s complex, confusing, and main street grocers are doing their best to figure it out.
LRB-4351/1 proposes that retailers that sell an arbitrary amount of goods itemize federal tariff costs on every sales receipt. Sounds simple, right? In reality, tariffs are baked into wholesale costs, buried in supply chain negotiations, and scattered across thousands of products. Asking retailers to extract and display this data is impractical costly, making compliance almost impossible.
Implementing this requirement would mean major upgrades to retail systems and production technology just to track tariff costs buried deep in the supply chain. It would also demand extra staff time to chase down pricing details that suppliers often don’t even share or maybe even have — adding complexity and cost to every transaction.
And who pays for all this? Spoiler alert: it’s not Washington. It’s Wisconsin retailers, and ultimately, Wisconsin consumers.
This bill also risks misleading shoppers. Prices are influenced by everything from fuel surcharges to labor costs to weather disruptions. Singling out tariffs oversimplifies a complex reality and turns receipts into political commentary.
We urge lawmakers to reconsider placing the burden of federal tax transparency on local businesses. If legislators want to know more about tariff impacts, we suggest working with members of Congress on the act.
Until then, let’s not turn checkout lanes into international trade tribunals.
ABOUT THE WISCONSIN GROCERS ASSOCIATION (WGA)
The Wisconsin Grocers Association (WGA) is a non-profit trade association established in 1900 to represent independent grocers and grocery chains, warehouses and brokers, vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers before all levels of government. The WGA provides educational and networking opportunities, leadership training, public affairs, and compliance information for its membership.
WGA and its membership have significant economic impact in the state of Wisconsin. The WGA represents nearly 350 independent grocers with multiple locations across the state, more than 200 retail grocery chain stores, warehouses and distributors, convenience stores, food brokers and suppliers. Wisconsin grocers employ over 30,000 people with over $1 billion in payroll and generate more than $12 billion in annual sales in Wisconsin resulting in approximately $800 million in state sales tax revenue (data provided by The Food Institute).
