Death and taxes ... with an emphasis on the taxes
TERRY WEBER
theglobeandmail.com
Globe and Mail Update
The total tax bill for Canadian families has risen 1,600 per cent over the past 45 years so that taxes now account for more of the family budget than food, shelter and clothing combined, the Fraser Institute said Wednesday.
According a report released by the public policy centre, that increase translates into an additional $26,792 in taxes for the average Canadian family.
Over the same period, the average family's expenditures on shelter rose 1,006 per cent, while food costs climbed 481 per cent and spending on clothing climbed 439 per cent.
In 1961, the average Canadian family had an income of $5,000 and paid $1,675 – 33.5 per cent – of that in taxes. In 2005, the average family income was $60,903, of which 46.7 per cent or $28,467 went to the federal, provincial and municipal coffers.
The report comes just days before Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority Conservatives deliver their first federal budget. Tax issues are likely to be front and centre in the financial blueprint, with the Tories promising to make good on a campaign vow to cut the GST by 1 per cent.
The government has heralded the cut as the best way to deliver broad tax relief to all Canadians. Critics, however, have argued that the move is likely come at the expense of personal income-tax reductions planned by the previous Liberal government.
Wednesdays report said income taxes – while the biggest single tax paid by Canadians – account for less than half of their total tax bill.
In 2005, income taxes made up 32 per cent of the total paid by an average Canadian family.
“All those other, not so obvious, taxes accounted for the other two-thirds of the bill,” the Fraser Institute said.
Other taxes paid by Canadians include sales and property taxes, motor vehicle fees, Employment Insurance premiums and Canada Pension Plan contributions.
The report also said that the top 30 per cent of families earned 60.3 per cent of all income in Canada and paid 66.3 per cent of taxes.
The bottom 30 per cent earned 7.8 per cent of all income and paid 4.3 per cent of all taxes.
By province, Alberta had the lowest tax rate, coming in at 44.5 per cent. New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island followed at 44.9 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, Quebec had the highest tax rate at 51 per cent, followed by British Columbia at 49.1 per cent. Ontario stood at 46.6 per cent. |
