High taxes hurt Canada’s ability to attract talent

With Major League Baseball’s regular season winding down and NHL training camps starting up, some big-name athletes including Maple Leafs captain John Tavares and former Toronto Blue Jays Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista are involved in lawsuits with the Canada Revenue Agency. While the specifics of each case differ, the overall theme is the same—when signing their contracts in Toronto, these athletes adopted tax planning strategies to manage Canada’s burdensome tax structure.

One might ask: who cares about the tax plight of multi-millionaire pro athletes? But these high-profile cases underscore Canada’s comparative disadvantage in attracting top performers in all fields.

Similar to professional athletes, other high-skilled individuals including doctors, engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs are more likely than other workers to consider tax rates when choosing where to live and work. By maintaining high tax rates relative to similar jurisdictions, Canada has a harder time attracting and retaining these talented individuals.

And you’re almost guaranteed to face higher tax rates in Canada than in the United States. When it comes to top personal income tax rates, 10 of the top 15 highest-taxed jurisdictions in North America (among 61 provinces and U.S. states) are Canadian including the entire top eight.

In fact, a top performer in Ontario, British Columbia or Quebec faces a marginal tax rate at least 11 percentage points higher than the median U.S. state, and 16 percentage points higher than nine U.S. states (which have no state income tax). For a doctor, entrepreneur, professional athlete or other high-skilled worker, the tax differences between these jurisdictions can be substantial. Not surprisingly, the nine U.S. states with no state tax such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee have become favoured destinations for pro athletes and other top talent.

In addition to hurting Canada’s ability to attract high-skilled individuals, high personal income taxes reduce incentives for Canadians to work, save and invest. For example, higher taxes reduce the income workers take home from each hour worked, so many will choose to work fewer hours, resulting in reduced economic growth and prosperity. And higher taxes reduce savings and investment by consuming larger portions of a worker’s earnings.

High tax rates can also lead to less innovation and entrepreneurship, which limits economic growth and thereby affects all Canadians, not merely the wealthy. These innovators and job creators operate in a global marketplace for talent. Once achieving free agency, the typical hockey or baseball star generally will only have 30 to 32 destinations to choose from, all within North America. In contrast, Canada competes for other types of talent with countries from around the globe, making competitiveness even more important.

Professional athletes have a few things in common with other top performers. They are highly mobile, and all else equal, will move to jurisdictions that allow them to take home the highest possible after-tax earnings. While no Canadians are likely losing any sleep over John Tavares’ tax lawsuit, the broader concern over Canada’s competitiveness should be a top priority for policymakers.