Taxes

Measuring Progressivity in Canada’s Tax System finds that the top 20 per cent of income-earning families pay nearly two-thirds (63.2 per cent) of Canada’s personal income taxes (provincial and federal) and more than half (54.7 per cent) of total taxes including sales and property taxes. Conversely, the bottom 20 per cent of income-earning families pay 1.0 per cent of all personal income taxes and 2.3 per cent of total taxes, due partly to the progressivity of Canada’s tax system where the share of taxes paid typically increases as incomes rise.

This year, Tax Freedom Day is Monday, May 24. If you had to pay all your federal, provincial and municipal taxes up front, you would give government every dollar you earned from January 1st to Tax Freedom Day, when Canadians finally start working for themselves. In 2021, the average Canadian family (with two or more people) will pay 39.1 per cent of its annual income in taxes, including income taxes, payroll taxes, health taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes and more.