Canadiens Players Hit Hardest By Taxes

We've heard it said times and times again, players do not want to come to sign with the Montreal Canadiens because of taxes, the language barrier and the weather amongst other things. However, The Hockey News wanted to know exactly how much taxes a player paid in every market and it therefore hired a tax expert from KPMG to go through the exercise of preparing a tax return for a player earning $3 million USD in every market.

Unsurprisingly, it's in Montreal that the fictive player was hit the hardest by taxes. With a total tax percentage of 53.15% meaning that once all is said and done with the tax man, there are "only" $1,405,610 left.

I know, the word only doesn't necessarily go well with earning near a million and a half, but compared to other teams in the league, the word is justified. The second highest tax rate of 52.32% is experienced by the Toronto Maple Leafs players and our fictive $3 M earner ends up with $1,430,337. That's roughly a $25,000 difference, perhaps for some it's no big deal, especially for the highest earners, but for someone like say Jake Evans, it can make a difference.

Related: Canadiens Trading Evans Would Be Short-Sighted

Which team has the lowest tax rate? The Seattle Kraken with 40.20% leaving our fictive player with $1,794,126 to take home. Meaning an NHLer skating in Washington state ends up with $388,516 more in his pockets than a player skating in the province of Quebec.

Tampa Bay (40.25%) and Florida (40.28%) complete the top three "taxes paradises" in the NHL while the four highest tax rates are in Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver). The Winnipeg Jets have the ninth highest tax percentage at 49.46%, the Edmonton Oilers come in at 15 with 47.01% immediately followed by the Calgary Flames in 16th place with 46.85%.

There you have it, confirmation that taxes are higher in Montreal. Thankfully, even though it's a business, not every player is all about the money and there are still some that value playing for the most storied franchise in the NHL.

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