Canada's 1% Earn a Tenth of the National Income

Statistics Canada released today their report on high income trends among Canadians from 1982 to 2010, revealing some interesting figures.

The top one per cent of Canadian tax filers in 2010 accounted for 10.6 per cent of the nation’s total income. This was decreased from its peak in 2006 in which the top one per cent reached 12.1 per cent, but was still an increase from the 1980s in which top tax filers earned seven per cent of total income.

StatsCan reported the median income has also increased in Canada. In 2010, a tax filer ranked as part of the top one per cent earned an average of $201,400, 37 per cent higher than $147,500 in 1982. Another increase reported was the income gap between the top earners and median average. In 1982, median income for top one percent was $191,600, seven times higher than the rest of the nation’s average of $28,000. In 2010, the top one per cent earned an average $283,400, ten times higher than the other tax filers who earn an average of $28,400.

Additionally, although men dominate Canada’s top one per cent, women have increased their representation. In 2010, women accounted for 21 per cent of all top tax filers, up from 11 per cent in 1982.

Top earning tax filers have also seen taxes increase. In 1982, Canada’s richest paid 13.4 per cent of federal and provincial/territorial income taxes. In 2010, top earners are now paying 21.2 per cent of all taxes.

Finally, Statistics Canada reported that top filers are expected to stay in the top one per cent over time.

“Over time, the top 1% of tax filers have become more likely to remain in the group. Among those who were in the top 1% in 1983, two-thirds (67%) were also in the top 1% in 1982. By 2010, this one-year measure of high income persistence had risen to 72%.

The five-year persistence also increased. In 1987, close to 44% of the top 1% filers had also been in the top 1% five years earlier, that is, in 1982. This proportion rose to 48% in the early 1990s and to 52.7% in 2010,” said Statistics Canada in an official release.