It takes revolving around social media through Stanley Cup The finals are not a shortage of debate about the impact of the state’s income tax on the league. It has become a hot issue in hockey for the masses, many of whom attribute many of them to the success of the leopards to their ability to sign the players at the lowest due to the lack of a state income tax.
Here she loses the legal discussion. The truth is that the cheetahs are a good, curse team, which is a wonderful organization run by supplementary players, with the secret of the secret hockey opened. This reality can exist independently while we also It acknowledges that there is a very real danger that NHL can be fractured mainly through this tax issue.
What is the tax issue in NHL?
Currently, NHL players do not make anything close to equivalent athletes in other sports. This is normal given that it is a smaller sport without feeding the frenzy on TV rights, but the end result is that only 18 players in the league earn more than 10 million dollars per season, as the average salary in the league is about 3 million dollars.
This has led to the senior hockey agents to advise their customers to earn more money by paying them towards signing in a state that does not establish a state income tax. This has become a trend in a free agency and in Commercial deadline nhl For players looking for new contracts.
Although it is correct that every sport facing this issue somewhat, it has become more prevalent in NHL due to lower salaries. This plays somewhat greatly when compared across the states.
- A player who makes $ 3 million and plays for the New York team (Rangers, Islands, Sprers) will receive $ 2.77 million before federal taxes
- A player gets $ 3 million and plays for the California team (kings, ducks, sharks) will earn $ 2.6 million before federal taxes
- A player who makes $ 3 million and plays with Toronto Maple Leafs will receive $ 2.63 million before federal taxes
On average, the player, under a contract, will get an average NHL, approximately 11 % less than playing with one of the six teams in a state without an income tax (leopards, lightning, golden knights, stars, predators, kraken).
How is this running?
There are two parts of this problem: First, tax -exempt states can pay less stars players than other teams, with the ability to sign first -class medium talent for less money. This has an effect on the entire list when it comes to equivalent talent.
If we compare players of similar talents in a similar position on Rangers and Panthers, we can see this effect clearly:
Artmi Panarin (NYR): 11.64 million dollars AAV
Alexander Parkov (Florida): $ 10 million
Igor Shesterskin (NYR): 11.5 million dollars AAV
Sergey Boubrovsky (Florida): $ 10 million
Adam Fox (Nir): 9.5 million dollars AAV
Aaron Ikevad (FLA): $ 7.5 million AAV
It is not a coincidence that on these three contracts of $ 9 million+, Florida players are on average less than $ 1.71 million on paper, while $ 600,000 is evaluated after government taxes evaluated.
This is more clear to moderate and low -level players. In 2024-25, Rangers had 15 players getting less than an average of $ 3 million in the league, which is largely due to the fact that they should pay more to the stars players-while the leopards had only nine players.
In short: Florida managed to pay less money than stars from other teams, while she was also able to buy high -quality intermediate talents due to the savings they offer at the upper end.
Is this really a problem?
This is where the objective argument is mixed about the state’s income tax with subjectivity. Over the past five years, teams of tax -exempt have achieved better results than tax -subject countries, statistically.
- The qualifiers by the six tax-exempt teams, 2020-2025: 22
- The appearance of a decisive match by 26 tax teams, 2020-2025: 50
Despite the formation of only 18.75 % of all NHL teams, those who do not have a state income tax have received 30 % of the qualifying sites available in the past five years. This is more exacerbated by the fact that Seattle Krakin, one of the tax -free teams, was a team that expanded in 2021 and is the only organization with a weak performance among its peers.
Whether this dramatic imbalance in the appearance of the qualifiers or not because It is difficult to distinguish the issue of income tax. Although it is certainly correct that leopards, stars, stars and golden knights pay their talents less on average, they also run an amazing difference in itself. The corresponding point is that it is easier to run an institution when you have more money than anyone else to do so.
Gary Betman wanders in confirmation
The NHL Gary Bettman Commissioner does not believe that the non -balanced tax structure is a problem, and commented in Paul Bissonnette for the suggestion.
There are two elements of Bettman’s comments, one is correct and the other is not intellectually safe. Yes, it is right that this conversation did not move to the forefront until the Florida teams began to control NHL. However, emphasizing that the league is the same as it was as when the cheetah was struggling with laughter.
When the hateful halls were, they were also one of the cheapest teams in NHL, as it ranked fine between 20 years and the last in the league in spending, playing the closest possible from the salary hall. The team was not until the Vincent Viola was sold in 2013, the team began to spend, and in 2021, the leopards became the top 10 spending teams for the first time in the date of the concession.
So, although it is technically correct for Bettman to deliver this matter and says it is illegal, there is no doubt that the greatest influence on Panthers’s success started when the team started spending like a team that wanted to win, and from there, the income tax issue was poured into the fire.
Should you do something about this?
Yes. Currently, there is an NHL basic imbalance that must be treated. In a sport where the players earlier earn less money than their counterparts in the American Football Association and NBA, they only achieve the league and NHLPA to review the CBA to ensure the existence of an equal stadium.
The most logical way to achieve this is to give up the state’s income tax mainly because it relates to a maximum salary. Whatever the player must pay in the state tax, it must be compensated and not applied to the salary ceiling. Therefore, in the case of a person like Panarin from Rangers, he will still get $ 11.64 million, but he is only $ 10.53 million for the maximum tax compensation – thus paying him closer to a player in Florida like Parkov, who gets $ 10 million of taxes.
This is something that every one fan in the league should support. If the argument is that these tax -exempt differences are really great regardless of money, then it should not be a problem for them.
Unless you want to admit that a large part of success now is because of the economy.
