After several weeks of promising developments that prompted the Major League Baseball Players Association to put off setting a strike for the second times in as many months this Monday (see WIT for Aug. 13, 2002), the momentum towards an MLB contract settlement stalled yesterday. Although the two sides are close to reaching agreements on revenue sharing and steroid testing (see WIT for Aug. 8, 2002), and agree in principle on a worldwide draft, the issue of a luxury tax is proving to be the monkey wrench that many had feared. Despite six hours of talks yesterday, the two sides remain approximately $30 million apart on the threshold for a luxury tax, and far apart on the percentage that salaries above that level would be taxed.
See "Labor Talks Stall On Luxury Tax", LAURA-PRICE BROWN, Newsday, August 14, 2002