Gary Bettman Denies Claim That Tax-Free States Have An Advantage With NHL Free Agents
For quite some time now, NHL fans have seen the clear advantage of teams in tax-free states, but now, Gary Bettman has denied any correlation to free agents.
Over the years, Gary Bettman has taken plenty of criticism from NHL fans around the world, and as of late, many of those fans have pinpointed one major issue that the Commissioner needs to address, and that's the supposed advantage that tax-free states have in signing free agents.
We saw the Anaheim Ducks try to get around that with their recent contract extension with Frank Vatrano, but Bettman and the league didn't like that either, as they are now set to shut down deferred payments for teams in states that have state tax as a way to get around that.
Now, Bettman himself has addressed the perceived advantage that states like Nevada and Florida have over their opponents, completely shutting down that notion during an appearance on the Real Kyper and Bourne Show.
We're not hearing from the players it's an issue, you can't just look at taxes. Cost of living, cost of housing, what's a desirable place to live in?
The fact we have a cap means one team no matter what jurisdiction they're in will scoop up the best player with the best economic deal, but it's something we look at to make sure there's a fundamental basis to what I'm saying. Based on the preliminary analysis, what I am saying is correct."
It's hard to deny that Bettman's assessment in some ways is correct, as there are way more factors involved than simply Florida and Vegas winning Stanley Cup's because of no state-tax, but it's hard to deny that we've seen those teams do much more spending in recent times than others.
Ultimately though, it's becoming clear that this is something the league will never address, with teams in Canada, California and other high-taxed areas needing to get creative in order to entice free agents.
