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Its why Steven Stamkos signed his contract extension ($68 million) a few years ago with the Tampa Bay Lightening, despite heavy recruiting from his “home-town” team the Toronto Maple Leafs.

33% Canada federal tax
13.6% Ontario provincial tax
0.65% yearly Toronto property tax
13% Sales tax

So he saved himself $6-8 million by staying in Florida.

that’s one of the reasons why I moved from canada to the US aside from freedom. Taxes up north are horrible. Heck, BC taxes were killer.

One of my frat mates from university contracts with the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay lightning. He said many times that players he spoke of dont mind losing in FL, as long as they get paid and keep their money.

These pro athletes have to pay income taxes in every jurisdiction where they play their games. That means Stamkos has to pay income taxes on 1/82nd of his salary for every road game his team plays in states and cities with income taxes. I took a quick look at the Tampa Bay schedule for the current season and identified quite a few road games in high-tax jurisdictions:

Anaheim, Boston (2 games), Buffalo (2 games), Calgary, Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Montreal, New Jersey (2 games), New York City (3 games), Ottawa (2 games), Philadelphia (2 games), San Jose, Seattle, Toronto (2 games), Vancouver, Washington DC (2 games), and Winnipeg.

It's remarkable to see how complicated the tax situations are for these athletes. I read somewhere that an NBA player for one of the New York City teams files something like 22 different income tax returns (Federal, state, county and city) in a typical year.