The top 1% and the taxes they pay

The income gap between Canada’s top 1% of taxfilers and the other 99% is still substantial. But, so too is the gap between the amount of taxes paid by the two groups. In 2010, the “rich” accounted for a disproportionate share.

According to Statistics Canada’s “High income trends among Canadian taxfilers, 1982-2010,” the top 1% of Canada’s 25.5-million taxfilers — or 254,700 people — accounted for 10.6% of Canada’s total income in 2010. The group’s median income was $283,400 and the average was $429,600. You needed an annual income of $201,400 is make it into the top 1%.

If you made less that $201,400 in 2010, you and 25.2 million others joined the other 99%. The average income for this group was $36,600 and the median income was $28,400.

So, the income gap is wide but, in recent years, that gap has gradually been closing. In 1982, when StatsCan began collecting figures, the top 1% accounted for 7% of total income reported by taxfilers. The median income of the top 1% was $191,600 vs. $28,000 for the other 99%. From there, the share of total income attributed to the top 1% climbed steadily until it reached its peak of 12.1% in 2006. It has been sliding since, to its current 10.6%.

The proportion of taxes the top 1% paid follows a similar pattern. In 2010, the top 1% paid 21.2% of federal and provincial or territorial income taxes. That means the other 99% paid 78.8% of the country’s taxes in 2010. In 1982, the other 99% paid 86.6% of taxes. In this case, the peak was reached in 2007, when the top 1% accounted for 23.3% of taxes. It has been edging downward since.

The median amount of taxes paid by the top 1% was $90,100 in 2010 vs the median amount of $60,900 in 1982. The median amount of taxes paid by the other 99% in 2010 was $1,800, down from $2,800 in 1982.