The gap between rich and poor is widening in Canada, according to a new study released today by Statistics Canada.

The study found that inequality in after-tax family incomes has increased over the past 15 years.

It says the tax system is not to blame; it says the gap is due to changes in family earnings from all sources — employment and self-employment incomes, investment incomes, and private retirement incomes.

The study says that while the tax-transfer system changed in many ways throughout the 1990s, it reduced income inequality by as much in 2004 as it did in 1989.

It says the trend appears to be driven in part by changing family characteristics, such as the rise in the number of families with two highly educated earners.

The study found that incomes among the top 10% of earning families rose by 22% between 1989 and 2004, while at the same time incomes fell 11% among the poorest families.