Does The NHL Have Unfair Tax Rules That Help Certain Teams? | SDP

The argument that some states have low or no tax is not the issue. The issue is all the other ones that tax so much

It's not unfair, it's just us stupid Canadians like voting in governments that looooove raising taxes on everything

fun fact, most Canadian based teams are substantially tax friendlier to play in than major US markets like New York, Boston, and anywhere in California. Alberta has some of the friendliest tax structure out of all provinces/states in the league.

The nhl can’t do anything about the laws on Taxes in specific states.

I have said for years how ridiculous it is that they put a hard cap in place and then further handicap some teams whose players have to pay higher taxes in certain cities, how can there not be an adjustment to even that out?

Crazy how this tax problem only affects Canadian teams not American teams that play in high tax states

The cap hit is after taxes against the cap. Teams pay the league to supply an accountant that says what the contract is worth, cash in pocket. The accountant reports directly to the league and the league is there employer not the team. This should be the same rule for team doctor's, they are employed by the league and hired by them as well. LTIR would be more difficult

Make what the team pays is the same across the nhl. Not rocket science…… who is the real idiot at that place where it could happen? Bettman.

Nobody complained when the California teams were consistently going to the WCF.

The biggest proof that this is the case is just look at which teams struggle to get players to want to play there.
Teams like TOR have to overpay any player that comes here and when UFA time is here TOR only gets the left overs or they overpay.
Anyone that says the tax is a non issue is cheering for a team with lower taxes or is part of the NHL executives period.

Leaf players get signing bonuses on July 1st and get taxed much less because of it. You can also get dual citizenship and get taxed at the rate of the home you spend the most time in, I believe Matthew's does this with Arizona. Leaf players get US dollars to spend in Canada.. that's a 35% increase. There are lots of loopholes the Leafs can exploit

Canadians are so used to having life on easy mode with free healthcare they cant stand texas having better tax systems

Apparently if you say something over and over again like my 3 year old does your right.

If this has to be relegated then do we also put regulations on promotional dollars and bonus?

Only matters now because southern teams are winning womp womp don’t care

No. There is no tax issue. This is all just certain people hitting the copium... hard.

Dallas was disadvantaged by the taxes on Canada when Tanev was a free agent. He explicitly said he signed with the Leafs bc if he signed in the States that he'd face a big tax penalty on everything he'd made up to that point. So it's all turns and roundabouts.

This tax thing is so over blown, is it a factor, sure, everything is a factor, but winning is a bigger factor. You can go though every tax friendly state team and there are people who took the max. You win and are cup contenders every year suddenly people want to be on your team no matter what the taxes look like

Why is it that it's always Toronto media and fans that cry about the "unfair advantage" that tax free states have. The Leafs have an advantage of endless money to go sign any staff that they want which is not the case for pretty much any other team. Stop looking for excuses and make your own team better. If top players are staying away from Toronto and its hard to build your team that way then you need to look at why are they not wanting to come to Toronto. Media and fans in Toronto are the ones to blame for a majority of that.

If we are going to talk about fairness in the NHL we need to bring into account the fact that players in Canada are payed in American dollars which is higher than Canadian dollars and the fact that players in Canada unlike say Florida get endorsements. We also need to bring into account that a team like Florida has one of the highest property taxes in America AND Canada.

Having a residence in a tax-free state is irrelevant. The players are taxed by where they work (play), not where they live.

The league is significantly better under Gary so you three idiots should be more grateful and if you want better free agent signings in Toronto then stop voting for the assholes who killing you with taxes. Blame yourselves.

It's wild to me that we are even talking about this. This a state tax issue, not federal tax issue. It's like the NY Giants complaining that it's not fair that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers don't pay state tax in the NFL. This is just nonsense imo

Whatever... as far as taxes goes it's the same in every other professional sport.

This is such cope. People in the comments pretending that the Leafs would have a Cup by now if they were in Florida are just embarrassing themselves.

Y'all act like these people pay taxes...

What no one seems to realize about the whole “no state income tax” thing is that these are states that still raise revenue, just not through income tax.

What you’ll find particularly interesting is that while these players don’t pay income tax to the state, they still have federal withholding combined with mega high property taxes and higher general cost of living.

I did the math two years ago when the discussion came about with Guentzel for example and found that when he signed for 7x9 in Tampa instead of the repeated 8x8 in CAR that he not only gave up a net 1 million over the course of the contract, but he’s taking home an additional $700K less during the contract due to property taxes if he bought a home worth just $1 million (likely bought a more expensive home) than if he was in CAR.

Not to mention it costs an arm and leg for insurance in Florida compared to most other states. These players aren’t actually taking home more money in most of these instances, especially those who sign for lower than they would make elsewhere.

Once again, do you get paid in Canadian $ or USA $ if you play in Canada? You NEVER talk about that so I think you should STFU.

Might as well call this the Leaf's Cope Cast. This is why we make fun of you year after year.

Do the high tax rates make your best 4 players perform like absolute trash cans in important playoff games?

Canada gets high taxes and free healthcare. We have lower taxes and pay out the ass for healthcare. Which problem do you want to have?

Complain to your government. Tell them to remove the taxes on hockey players. We got freedom down here. TAXATION IS THEFT!!!

Canadians are hilarious when it comes to this. Never was a problem till now and also said hockey will never work in the south. Then they did and now the taxes are a problem making it a problem. Its gotta suck to win everything in hockey for the most part except the cup since 93’ :)

Being a southern team used to be a joke cause lol they dont watch hockey but when a southern us team wins a few championships all of a sudden playing in the south is a huge advantage.
Lets just call this issue what it is, cope.
Maybe if both countries went socialist we could fix the outcomes of players living differences or how expensive some teams tickets are, but those arent really different conditions then when the panthers bolts and the yotes were jokes.

No.

Not significantly anyway. It matters to some players but like the guys said, you could also talk about guys who sign with their home team. Or for competition reasons, role, etc.

The yearly tradition of Canadians finding any reason or excuse as to why none of those teams won the cup. Cap circumvention, taxes, Gary rigging everything, I’m sure it’s trumps fault aswell somehow. Maybe Australia just isn’t producing enough Nathan walkers 🤷‍♂️

Dangle. You’re talking about tax free. Think of this. Let’s say a UFA is asking 10 million In Toronto. Or Florida. Florida is actually 8 million. In Toronto it’s 10 million players are played in American money. Now take that 10 million and convert it to Canadian money. So take 10 million + 35%. Think of it.

Sounds like Canadian cry babies

Here's a crazy idea. Vote in politicians who will lower your state/province income tax. Certain states have made decisions to not have personal income taxes in order to spur population growth and long-term economic development. They did this on purpose, and the general population voted for it. If you want the same conditions, then vote for it.

Wait until Federal income tax is abolished in the entire U.S. while Canadians keep voting to be taxed into oblivion. Canadian teamsl may never win another cup because the best & smartest players will naturally want more for their money, freedom of speech or may even want to exercise their right to defend themselves.

Too bad. You can’t have different taxes for different markets. That’s insane.

If you actually wanna fix it you take away players friendly deals. You use a system like arbitration so that if a player is worth 9 he can’t sign for 6 in a no tax state there for a team like Florida won’t benefit from loading up on talent through team friendly deals based on taxes

TL;DR: We will blame literally anything but the absolute dullards who have no imagination, no real ability to develop or identify talent, and no real skill in finagling numbers who frequently end up the GMs of Canadian/Large Market teams because they either make the market feel better about themselves or are actively nepotism hires.

Please stop blaming taxes for your team hiring people without up-to-date puck knowledge to make decisions for your team and immediately suffering for it.

Sucks to suck

The NHL doesn't collect taxes or set tax rates. You want to complain about taxes in Canada, blame the guy you all just voted for.

Or maybe in a flat cap era no state tax simple makes it easier to attract talent.
Think about it. Everyone assumed cap is going up. Teams made deicisions base on cap going up. Covid happens, world stops, cap stays flat. Now teams cant afford what they thought so have to be more frugil with contracts. Players realize this, and now the no state tax really become more of a factor bc they can make more in those states.

Argue if you want but 5 of the last 6 Chanpions come from states with no state tax...
The reality is they can get players cheaper than other teams can and end up with a better overall team.

I used to love this podcast, now its constant complaining and "Will (insert player name here) join the Leafs?"

States with no income tax DO get it from other sources. NH for instance is more than double the property tax of MA. It’s politicians people. They’ll get their money.

GHL gambling hockey league

The NHL has an unfair advertising deal problem. Players for Canadian teams get way more advertising deals than USA teams. They should really address this unfair practice.

Anyone who says it doesnt matter is either a fan of one of those teams or are simply just dumb. If a player has the same offer from two teams and one team is from a tax free state and one isn't, the contract from the tax free state is worth more. It's very simple. To say that there's nothing you can do is very stupid too. All you do is adjust each teams cap based on the tax rate in their state. If they have a higher tax rate, they can offer high contracts. It's just like the LTIR nonsense, there's a very easy fix, the NHL won't do it.