The New York Mets lead a historic eight Major League Baseball teams that owe a luxury tax for the 2023 season, including the largest tax payroll in the league, according to several reports.
The Associated Press was able to receive the revised MLB luxury tax figures this week, which show that owner Steve Cohen’s Mets owe an unprecedented amount of roughly $101 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ $291.1 million tax payroll from 2015 is surpassed by the Mets’ $374.7 million tax payroll.
The Mets, who ended 75-87 and in fourth place in the National League East, were not helped by the money invested.
Had the Mets not engaged in a summertime feast of trades that included Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, David Robertson, and Mark Canha, things would have turned out much worse. The club apparently avoided paying an even greater luxury tax by making those decisions, which also saved them $18 million.
Paradoxically, the 2022 labor deal included a fourth barrier of $293 million, known as the Cohen Tax, in an effort to rein in the spending of the Mets owner. In 2023, the New York Yankees and the Mets were the only clubs to go above that mark.
The whole list of MLB clubs who have payments due on January 21st for the luxury tax:
New York Mets: $100,781,932
San Diego Padres: $39,693,954
New York Yankees: $32,399,366
Los Angeles Dodgers: $19,423,297
Philadelphia Phillies: $ 6,977,345
Toronto Blue Jays: $5,535,492
Atlanta Braves: $3,159,536
Texas Rangers: $1,827,142
The Rangers, Braves, and Blue Jays are paying a luxury tax for the first time.
The Phillies, Mets, and Yankees are paying a luxury tax for the second year in a row. The tax is payable in the following amounts: thirty percent on the first $20 million above, forty-two percent on the next $20 million, seventy-five percent on the third $20 million, and ninety percent on any sum beyond $293 million.
For the third year in a row, the Padres and the Dodgers are subject to the luxury tax, which is assessed at rates of fifty percent on the first $20 million over the $233 million barrier, sixty-two percent on the subsequent $20 million, and ninety-five percent on the sum between $273 million and $293 million.
Player benefits (the first $3.5 million) and players’ Individual Retirement Accounts (half of the remaining amount) are funded by the tax revenue. The remaining fifty percent is allocated to an additional commissioner’s discretionary fund, which is meant to be distributed to specific teams that receive revenue-sharing funds.