Author Description

This study examines the evolution of income, the federal tax on personal income, and the effective tax rate between 1990 & 2002. For the purposes of the study, tax filers are divided into three groups: the 10 percent with the highest incomes, the one-half with the lowest incomes, and the remaining 40 percent of intermediate income earners. Topics covered include the growth in income relative to the growth in federal income tax paid, the proportion of tax paid by each income group, and trends in the effective tax rate for each income group. Factors involved in gaps between effective tax rates of the different groups are explained. Data for the study come from the Longitudinal Administrative Databank of Statistics Canada.