The average income of the top 1% of Canadian taxfilers rose just under 0.4% from 2013 to $466,700 in 2014, according to report published on Monday by Statistics Canada.
However, the share of the country’s total income held by the top 1% did not change from 2013 at 10.3%, the report adds, which is well below its peak of 12.1% in 2006.
The 1% also saw their share of income tax paid increase year over year, ticking up to 20.5% in 2014 from 20.3% in 2013. However, this remains well below the high of 23.3% in 2007.
On average, Canada’s top taxfilers paid $159,500 in total income taxes; which was up $4,200, or 2.7%, from the previous year.
The threshold for membership in the 1% was $227,100 in 2014, the reports says, and more than 268,500 Canadians were in this high-income group.
Alberta accounted for most of the increase in top earners in 2014 but this predated the drop in oil prices in 2015, the report notes.
Ontario retained the largest share of Canada’s top 1% of taxfilers (39.9%) in 2014, according to the report. In addition, Ontario and Alberta combined accounted for almost two thirds (65.5%) of the top 1% of taxfilers, despite the fact that the two provinces hold less than half (49.1%) of taxfilers overall.
The top 1% living in Ontario boasted the highest average income of $487,100, the report says, followed by Alberta at $474,200. By contrast, Newfoundland ranked last with average income of $367,500 for its top taxfilers.
At the same time, Ontario’s top taxfilers paid an average of $179,000 in income tax during the year, compared with $116,700 for top filing Newfoundlanders.
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