Should the NHL salary cap adjust for local income tax?

[jbeck5]

Certain places have minimal taxes and others have high taxes. For some star players this could be the difference of over a milion for income per year.

Should the cap be adjusted for post tax income instead of pretax income?

This would get rid of advantages teams from areas with barely any taxes for signing free agents.

On one hand it creates more parity, on the other hand it slightly complicates things.

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[cynicalcitizen]

No

 

[poetryinmotion]

No

Yes

 

[LeafFever]

Yes. They help the low budget teams so much they should do this.

 

[Canadienna]

Yes, ridiculous that the Habs and Leafs can pay for a team like AZ to exist yet they can offer their roster more money after tax within the cap than we can.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I think they should adjust because obviously all dollars aren't created equal.

Difference between a team like MTL/TBL in taxes is massive. I don't think it's an equal playing field.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

if the point of the salary cap is to help create a more fair and level playing field for all teams, then yeah. If the point is to give certain teams an advantage, then no

 

[SirSamofHouseBennett]

if the point of the salary cap is to help create a more fair and level playing field for all teams, then yeah. If the point is to give certain teams an advantage, then no

What if the point of the cap is to ensure the owners had cost certainty so that players could only be paid a set %?

 

[Legionnaire]

I'm sure the players all live in Delaware anyway.

 

[BLNY]

I've been a proponent of this for years. Make the cap a post tax cap. Teams in high tax markets spend more of their cap space to compensate. It's an imbalance.

Player and team agree to an amount made after taxes (but not including union dues, etc). That number is the same in any market. If the player moves, the new team doles out whatever it takes in that market to meet the number.

There was a time when players in Canada were paid in Canadian funds while players in the US were paid in US dollars. That changed. This should change too.

 

[3074326]

Absolutely. I don't know why it hasn't been done already.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

We could go well beyond taxes.
We use economics to actually gain parity.

I mean I make video games for a living, and in all competitive video games, we balance the crap out of the systems using analytical data and feedback, getting the most mathematically accurate balancing based on all the data we have.

Are there under-served markets incapable of attracting UFAs?
How can the NHL leverage economics to get teams stuck in the basement faster?

What about tweaking things like, adding lottery balls to teams who have not been in the playoffs, or giving them extra cap space to play with?


I know some of you will think this is silly as hell, but we could put AI, in charge of the micro-tweaking based on all statistical data, or create algorithms for everything to ensure perfectly balanced playing field between teams.

 

[These Are The Days]

So lets go back to having $100 million payrolls lol there's NO WAY this can backfire!

 

[charliolemieux]

Then what about cost of living difference?

Vancouver, Toronto, New York, are a fair bit more expensive places to live in than say Buffalo.

 

[Spawn]

if the point of the salary cap is to help create a more fair and level playing field for all teams, then yeah. If the point is to give certain teams an advantage, then no

Neither of those are the point of the salary cap.

 

[Spawn]

Then what about cost of living difference?

Vancouver, Toronto, New York, are a fair bit more expensive places to live in than say Buffalo.

How about a "cold weather" cap adjustment. If we want a level playing field and all...

 

[Canadiens Ghost]

Absolutely.

 

[charliolemieux]

How about a "cold weather" cap adjustment. If we want a level playing field and all...

Makes sense. Costs money to have to deal with Winter.

 

[Tall Morty]

Neither of those are the point of the salary cap.

Edited because dumb

 

[Spawn]

Parity was one of the main points of the salary cap

The salary cap is about exactly one thing. Everything else is noise from the league to try and get fans on their sides for the lockout that comes once every half dozen years or so.

 

[supsens]

No. Who gives a crap if one dude with millions pays slightly more then another in taxes. The cap is to make sure the teams can survive it is not about making sure every player is paid the same

 

[Drury_Sakic]

No. Who gives a crap if one dude with millions pays slightly more then another in taxes. The cap is to make sure the teams can survive it is not about making sure every player is paid the same

The players do. That is why it is an advantage for some teams. The team in the lower bracket can actually pay a player less and it = more actual dollars than a team that would pay them more in a higher bracket.... and in a way has an advantage in the cap era.

That said, it is not like the teams in lower tax brackets are exactly tearing up the standings. A lot of the best teams are in higher tax bracket areas...so while there is an advantage, it is only on paper to this point really.

Heck, I would bet if you did the math, its almost an inverse relationship in terms of long term success.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

If they're going to do escrow, I really don't see why not.

 

[LeafFever]

Yes, ridiculous that the Habs and Leafs can pay for a team like AZ to exist yet they can offer their roster more money after tax within the cap than we can.

I agree with this. Teams like the Leafs and Habs are being screwed

 

[Spazkat]

I agree with this. Teams like the Leafs and Habs are being screwed

It's cute that Habs/Leafs want to pretend that taxes are the reason players sign with other teams instead. The California and NY teams have high tax rates as well and don't seem to have problems attracting players/ free agents. I wonder why that is?

That said, they will never do this anyways because taxation rates are variable. No team/owner is going to go for any plan that means a huge expense like salary is not fixed a expense.