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VANCOUVER, BC: As the puck drops on another Vancouver Canucks season, so does another year of collecting income tax from the players. A new joint Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) and Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) study, Major Penalty for High Taxes, shows last year’s Canuck players paid $39.7 million in income taxes to the federal and BC governments.

The 25 players on last year’s Canuck roster earned a combined $88 million CDN, meaning more than 45 per cent of their salaries would have gone to income taxes. (See below for each player’s estimate, and a government service their taxes may have funded.)

“This kind of revenue is why government needs to offer a competitive tax environment to attract and keep high income earners in B.C. – whether hockey players, entrepreneurs, doctors, engineers or others,” said Jordan Bateman, CTF B.C. Director. “Put another way, these 25 Canucks paid the salaries of 530 teachers. Or half the improvements to Royal Inland Hospital. Every 18 months, the Canucks pay enough in tax to build a new high school somewhere in B.C.”

The CTF/ATR report contends that places with higher taxes struggle to attract and keep highly mobile, wealthy income earners, and lose out on the benefits those people bring.

“In Canada, people are moving from the high-tax provinces in the east to the lower-tax provinces in the west. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba all have seen negative interprovincial migration since 2005 and they also all have higher income taxes,” the report notes.

Provincial tax rates mean Vancouver has the third best income tax rate among Canadian NHL cities, behind Edmonton and Calgary. The Canucks rank ninth overall, nearly five percentage points more than Dallas, Florida, Tampa Bay and Nashville.

Here’s a list of how much the report estimates last year’s Canucks paid in income tax, and a government service that money could have purchased:

• Henrik Sedin (salary: $9.4 million, taxes: $4.3 million) – startup funding for the Aboriginal Emergency Financial Assistance Fund.
• Daniel Sedin (salary: $9.4 million, taxes: $4.3 million) – improvements to Hwy. 4 near Port Alberni.
• Ryan Miller (salary: $8 million, taxes: $3.7 million) – 21 Richmond apartments, subsidized for lower income families.
• Radim Vrbata (salary: $6.7 million, taxes: $3 million) – first-year funding for the Violence Free BC strategy.
• Alex Burrows (salary: $6.7 million, taxes: $3 million) – one year of the children’s fitness equipment tax credit.
• Alex Edler (salary: $5.7 million, taxes: $2.6 million) – funding for the BC Association of Community Response Networks.
• Dan Hamhuis (salary: $5.7 million, taxes: $2.6 million) – research projects at three Vancouver Island universities.
• Kevin Bieksa (salary: $5.4 million, taxes: $2.4 million) – adult literacy training programs.
• Luca Sbisa (salary: $3.9 million, taxes: $1.8 million) – expanded gym at Flatrock’s Clearview Elementary/Jr. Secondary School.
• Chris Higgins (salary: $3.4 million, taxes: $1.5 million) – 183 new health education spaces at nine post-secondary institutions.
• Derek Dorsett (salary: $2.7 million, taxes: $1.2 million) – opening of a forest fire attack base in Valemount.
• Chris Tanev (salary: $2.7 million, taxes: $1.2 million) - lengthening the northbound Steveston off-ramp on Hwy. 99.
• Shawn Matthias (salary: $2.5 million, taxes: $1.1 million) – bioenergy heating system at the University of Northern BC.
• Nick Bonino (salary: $2.3 million, taxes: $1 million) – 20 addiction treatment spaces at Baldy Hughes.
• Bo Horvat (salary: $2.2 million, taxes: $988,508) – a readiness fund for Syrian refugees settling in BC.
• Jannik Hansen (salary: $2 million, taxes: $896,038) – funding for the BC Sport Participation Program.
• Zack Kassian (salary: $2 million, taxes: $896,038) – funding for the Families Organized for Recognition and Care Equality Society.
• Brad Richardson (salary: $1.5 million, taxes: $681,236) – new deck and change houses around the Liard River Hot Springs pool.
• Eddie Lack (salary: $1.3 million, taxes: $589,178) – reconstruction of the campground at Martha Creek Provincial Park.
• Yannick Weber (salary: $1.1 million, taxes: $497,120) – Tofino’s share of Resort Municipality Initiative tourism funding.
• Linden Vey (salary: $984,900, taxes: $426,542) - upgrades at the Otway Nordic Centre.
• Sven Baertschi (salary: $765,551, taxes: $326,080) – funding for a Nanaimo teens’ safe house.
• Ryan Stanton (salary: $737,000, taxes: $313,004) – Sun Peaks’ share of Resort Municipality Initiative tourism funding.
• Ronalds Kenins (salary: $654,986, taxes: $275,441) – upgrading the Wells Gray Provincial Park Information Centre.
• Brandon McMillan (salary: $265,659, taxes: $97,129) – funding urban deer management.

Photo: Henrik Sedin #33 of the Vancouver Canucks talks with referee Eric Furlatt during Game One of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs against the San Jose Sharks, May 01, 2013 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images)