Dodgers, Mets among 6 teams hit with MLB luxury tax penalty

Last edited Thu Jan 19, 2023, 01:00 PM - Edit history (1)

NEW YORK (A.P.) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers were hit with a $32 million luxury tax for the second straight season, among six teams paying a penalty as baseball payrolls rebounded after the lockout to a record $4.56 billion.

The New York Mets set a luxury tax payroll record at $299.8 million, topping the $297.9 million of the 2015 Dodgers, and will pay tax for the first time since the penalty started in 2003, according to final figures compiled by Major League Baseball and obtained by The Associated Press.

The NL champion Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox also exceeded the $230 million tax threshold. The total tax of $78 million topped the previous high of $74 million in 2016, when six teams also paid.


The Dodgers, assessed at a higher rate because they exceeded the threshold for the second straight year, owe $32.4 million on a luxury tax payroll of $293.3 million. That was down slightly from their $32.6 million penalty for 2021.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35476066/dodgers-mets-six-teams-hit-mlb-luxury-tax-penalty

Where does the money go? According to the link:

• The first $3.5 million of tax money is used to fund player benefits
• 50% of the remainder will be used to fund player individual retirement accounts.
• The other 50% of the remainder goes to a supplemental commissioner's discretionary fund intended to be given to teams receiving revenue-sharing money that have grown their non-media local revenue over several years.

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"Discretionary fund intended" -- is this a way of saying there's no guarantee how the penalty money is spent?

Meanwhile, the big market teams continue to break the rules with impunity (other than a wrist slap).

Can we really blame them? MLB allows it.