Owners of Canadian NHL teams looking for special tax concessions are clearly offside. Right now they are selling the idea of special tax reductions for millionaire owners and players ahead of regular taxpayers. And like the product on the ice, this concept is smartly packaged in Canadian-flag wrapping paper.

But don't buy your ticket to the All-Star Subsidy Game, just yet. There is no doubt that Canada's tax regime makes it hard for Canadian teams to be competitive. NHL owners claim that 40% of their income goes to pay taxes. But that's about the same tax burden borne by the average Canadian. And who needs tax relief more A family with children, or a multi-million dollar sports company with a stable of millionaire players

Canadians need broad-based tax relief, for all individuals and businesses, not special tax relief for a handful of hockey companies. That's not real tax relief, that's a taxpayer-funded subsidy.

Let's take a harder look at the priorities. This year the average NHL paycheque is $1.2 million US. with 244 hockey players making over one million US dollars each. Skyrocketing salaries may be a problem for hockey teams, but it hasn't been a big "problem" for the average Canadian family, whose real income has actually declined in the last 20 years because of the heavy tax burden. Should families be asked to shell out more of their earnings in taxes so that rich hockey owners can better afford to pay big salaries to rich hockey players I don't think so.

Some promoters of puck-fare argue that since other industries receive subsidies (e.g. the aerospace industry in Quebec) so should hockey. They say that hockey is as Canadian as maple syrup and back bacon, and so are corporate subsidies. Sorry, but that kind of thinking is what gave us a heavy tax burden in the first place. Corporate subsidies no longer have a legitimate place in our fiscal playbook.

It should not be forgotten that Canadian taxpayers already subsidize pro sports in other ways. All those corporate boxes and company-owned season's tickets are nice business tax write-offs. And lots of taxpayer-owned corporations like Purolator and Via Rail and even the Government of Canada buy ads in NHL hockey rinks.

Puck-fare advocates also claim that NHL tax breaks will preserve the economic activity and ultimately the tax revenue generated by NHL teams. Remember that argument because it can be used to justify virtually every kind of inappropriate government expense. As tragic as it would be if some NHL clubs leave Canada, the disposable income Canadians now spend on hockey tickets and hot dogs would not "disappear", but would be spent somewhere else.

NHL owners are bright, pro-Canadian entrepreneurs that should be applauded for their efforts to keep professional hockey in Canada. But every business and individual in Canada is over-taxed both historically and vis-à-vis the United States. And most Canadians neither earn nor pay average salaries of over one million dollars.

NHL teams should not expect tax breaks ahead of the long-suffering average taxpayer when their woes are caused in part by millionaire salaries. You're offside, gentlemen. Get back on the bench with the rest of us.