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The check's in the mail, Bud
2008-12-22 20:34
by Bob Timmermann

The New York Yankees, fresh off missing the playoffs for the first time since 1994 (or 1993 if you're one of those people who insist that 1994 shouldn't count), got their luxury tax bill from the MLB Commissioner's Office.

And it's not the $75 tab you got in Monopoly (unless you bought a new game, it's up to $100), it was $26.9 million. Which is actually less than what Alex Rodriguez will be paid in 2009.

The Tigers owe $1.3 million in luxury tax. Again, Detroit is not the place to for a good ROI.

Comments
2008-12-22 20:56:12
1.   Bob Hendley
They inflated Monopoly?!
2008-12-22 21:22:24
2.   Bob Timmermann
Luxury Tax was raised and the Income Tax was changed to a flat $200. You used to have the option of paying 10%, but since that amount included all your properties, you'd usually be better off paying $200.
2008-12-22 22:38:02
3.   StolenMonkey86
The common house rule was to only count cash holdings, making property acquisition and development a nice tax shelter.
2008-12-23 01:06:20
4.   DougS
2 Except that the 10% option could help you out if you'd had exceptionally bad luck. It was a play-balance mechanism. Granted that it was not often used, but if you were in a position to make use of it, boy, you could use any break you could get.

Whoever decided to make this change, I hope they thought it through and had player feedback to back it up. You don't mess with the classics lightly.

2008-12-23 05:15:44
5.   dianagramr
Can you swap the risky mortgages to other owners and create a clusterf**k of risk which could bring down a world economy?
2008-12-23 05:36:45
6.   fordprefect
5
Hehe

what are you trying to say? ;)

2008-12-23 08:11:13
7.   dianagramr
6

'Chance' card:
"Your mortgage company just went belly-up. All your properties are foreclosed to the government."

2008-12-23 09:24:24
8.   Bob Timmermann
4
Income Tax wasn't a frequently landed-on space, so the number of times you would get with it and with less money and property on hand would be fairly unlikely.

In the new version of Monopoly, the players are started off with more cash (I believe it's $2500 instead of $1500), so it's even more likely that a player will have more than $2000 on hand unless they are about to go bankrupt.

2008-12-23 09:29:11
9.   Raf
Don't the Yanks have an opportunity to write off stadium construction costs? Will that balance any luxury tax owed?
2008-12-23 09:42:43
10.   das411
Who would have won out in the 1994 playoffs, had they been held? Is the conventional wisdom still that the Expos would have destroyed everybody?
2008-12-23 09:48:52
11.   Bob Timmermann
I think conventional wisdom thinks the Braves would have overtaken the Expos or at least beaten them as the wild card.
2008-12-23 15:01:04
12.   El Lay Dave
7 You have to balance that out on the Community Chest side:

Bailout! The Fed has provided cash infusions to the holders of your risky mortagages. Pay off mortgages now without the 10% fee!

2008-12-23 15:04:21
13.   El Lay Dave
Changing the rules of Monopoly is sacrilege.

The rules are also a precarious balancing act and changes could have all sorts of unpredicted side effects.

And going bankrupt because you can't pay the income tax is just evil. Go to jail maybe.

2008-12-23 15:31:00
14.   Bob Timmermann
If you go bankrupt to the bank in Monopoly, the game goes on for a long time because the bank has to immediately auction off all the properties. This redistributes the deeds and lets some people get a stronger position.

If you go bankrupt to another player, that player will likely win because they will have a huge edge in capital.

2008-12-23 17:07:26
15.   Eric Stephen
14
One of the house rules among me and my friends is that if a player goes bankrupt (to the bank) the properties are just for sale again if landed on.

Monopoly is my favorite board game ever. Even if I am always the banker.

2008-12-23 17:39:36
16.   Bob Timmermann
For those upset about the changes to the rules of Monopoly (which were relatively minor), I suggest you not look at the new version of the game Life.

It's really bad.

2008-12-23 18:06:57
17.   El Lay Dave
17 It IS bad, but Careers was always better than Life anyway.

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