The tax office is coming. A record nine major league baseball teams participated in January. The LA Dodgers are leading the way…and are sitting on $103 million…but as the reigning World Series Champions, they were probably worth every penny.
The luxury tax is a tool that Major League Baseball uses in place of a roster salary cap to deter overspending.
The tax takes into account each player’s average annual salary, and multipliers are applied to teams with repeat violations. As of last season, the threshold teams had to remain was $237 million.
Here are the nine teams that crossed the threshold and what they owe. The top three teams on this list, the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees, have paid taxes for three consecutive seasons.
Los Angeles Dodgers $103 million
New York Mets $97.1 million
New York Yankees $62.5 million
Philadelphia Phillies $14.4 million
Atlanta Braves $14 million
Texas Rangers $10.8 million
Houston Astros $6.5 million
San Francisco Giants $2.4 million
Chicago Cubs $570,000
The total of $311 million is a record, breaking last year’s $209 million.
Is it worth spending the extra cash?Considering the top 7 teams on this list all made the playoffs.
The funds raised by the league on Jan. 21 will be used for player benefits and player retirement benefits, with 50% redistributed to teams that need revenue sharing to remain competitive. These teams will each earn about $15 million this spring.
I’m Chris Francis, Straight Arrow News.
