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The Average Canadian Family Spends More on Taxes Than Necessities

A new study says Canadian families spend more on taxes than they do on food, clothing, and shelter combined.

“Over the past five decades, the tax bill for the average Canadian family has ballooned, and now the amount of money going to taxes is greater than what’s spent on life’s basic necessities,” said Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the Canadian Consumer Tax Index, which tracks the total tax bill of the average Canadian family from 1961 to 2014.

In 2014, the average Canadian family (including unattached Canadians) earned $79,010 and paid $33,272 in total taxes compared to $28,887 on food, clothing and shelter combined. In other words, 42.1 per cent of income went to taxes while 36.6 per cent went to basic necessities. In 1961, the average family spent 33.5 per cent on taxes and 56.5 per cent on food, clothing, and shelter.

Photo Credit: Fraser Institute

The total tax bill reflects both visible and hidden taxes that families pay to the federal, provincial and local governments, including income taxes, payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, health taxes, fuel taxes, alcohol taxes, and more.

“With growth in the total tax bill outpacing the cost of basic necessities, taxes now eat up more family income, so families have less money available to spend, save or pay down household debt,” Lammam said.

Even after accounting for changes in overall prices (inflation) over the 53-year period, the tax bill shot up 149.2 per cent.



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