Taxes

Taxes versus the Necessities of Life: The Canadian Consumer Tax Index 2023 Edition is a new study that finds in 2022, the average Canadian family earned an income of $106,430 and paid $48,199 in total taxes--meaning, the average Canadian family spent 45.3 per cent of its income on taxes compared to 35.6 per cent on basic necessities.

Measuring Progressivity in Canada’s Tax System, 2023 finds that the top 20 per cent of income-earning families pay more than half (53.1 per cent) of total taxes including sales and property taxes. Conversely, the bottom 20 per cent of income-earning families pay 2.0 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.