Inequaltity of wealth in Canada and everywhere

[jimmoyer]

50% of Canadians make $40,000 or less. Hedy Fry said it in the House of Commons just a couple of weeks ago during the debate over the Speech from the Throne.
----------------JonB2004-------------------------------------

From Statistics Canada website:

http://www.taxtips.ca/statistics.htm#TaxPie



Federal personal income tax breakdown.

Statistics Canada recently published a study titled Federal Personal Income Tax: Slicing the Pie, which examines the breakdown of federal personal income taxes paid by high and low income earners in Canada, from 1990 to 2002. Income earners were divided into 3 groups for the study:


10% of taxpayers with the highest incomes This group included taxpayers earning:
over $48,700 in 1990
over $64,500 in 2002

50% of taxpayers with the lowest incomes This group included taxpayers earning:

$19,000 or less in 1990
$23,000 or less in 2002

40%, or remaining taxpayers, with intermediate incomes This group included taxpayers earning:

$19,001 to $48,700 in 1990
$23,001 to $64,500 in 2002

The following tables summarize the results of the study.
a. Share of federal personal income tax paid by the 3 groups of taxpayers in Canada

Income group % of federal personalincome taxes paid
............................................1990.. ........2002
50% with lowest incomes..............6.7% ........4.4%
40% with intermediate incomes.....47.3%........43.0%
10% with highest incomes............46.0%........52.6%

Other tables show much lower compliance
by lower taxpayers


All information in this article adapted from Statistics Canada publication No. 11-621-MIE2005024, April 22, 2005.

 

[darkbeaver]

Good morning Jim. What's with the numbers?

 

[jimmoyer]

One

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
`Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number, worse than two

It's just no good anymore since she went away
Now I spend my time just making rhymes of yesterday

One is the loneliest, number one is the loneliest
Number one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest, one is the loneliest
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
It's just no good anymore since she went away
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest
(Number) One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

 

[jimmoyer]

Income group % of federal personalincome taxes paid
...............................................1990....................2002
50% with lowest incomes...under 19k...6.7% .. under 23k..4.4%
40% with intermediate incomes..........47.3%................43.0%
10% with highest incomes..over 48k....46.0%... over 64k..52.6%

For such a progressive country, that wealth distribution is quite interesting.

50 percent of all wage earners earned less than 19k in 1990 ? Less than 23k in 2002 ????

Wow !!!

 

[darkbeaver]

They've been lying to us for years, we ain't a progressive country we're a progressive corporation.

 

[Walter]

Bloody poverty activists; 10% of the people pay 50% of the income tax. It's the rich who are being taxed to death; these are the same people who create all the jobs.

 

[Scott Free]

Income tax is illegal anyway: Think Free

 

[lone wolf]

Bloody poverty activists; 10% of the people pay 50% of the income tax. It's the rich who are being taxed to death; these are the same people who create all the jobs.

Okay... Somebody's lying here 'cuz the politicians say they do and industry says they do and you say it's some rich guy. Taxed to death my arse! They're still breathing....

Feed the poor. Eat the rich!

 

[darkbeaver]

Bloody poverty activists; 10% of the people pay 50% of the income tax. It's the rich who are being taxed to death; these are the same people who create all the jobs.

The only thing the rich create is poverty Walter., they are a singularly uncreative lot.

 

[Lester]

The rich must be removed from the equation, no one NEEDS a huge amount of money.

 

[Scott Free]

Wealth redistribution can get so messy sometimes. It really is in everyones best interest to share - even if they have a lot.

 

[Colpy]

Really, the categories in the original stats are far too broad to underscore the real problem.....especially in the USA.......there is a class of super-rich that are expanding their income expotentially.........the gap is widening beyond the reasonable.

I read somewhere (trust me, I don't have a link ) that in 1963 the average CEO made 15 times what the lowest-paid worker in his enploy earned......by 1993 that figure had ballooned to 130 times.

So in 1963 if you made $4000 as the lowest paid worker in a company, the CEO probably made $60,000

By 1993, if you made $20,000 as the lowest paid worker in a company, the CEO probably made $2,600,000.

That gap is increasing.

That is simply wrong.

 

[Scott Free]

Here is the graph Colpy: I linked because it is a large file.

 

[iARTthere4iam]

These numbers don't tell much of a story do they?

Like that the bottom wage earners may be students or part time workers or simply engaged in other activities besides making lots of money. Or that the top wage earners include doctors, police, teachers, engineers etc. that are engaged in careers with a great deal of training and or responsibility. Surely a part time student worker is not entitled to the same wage as an orthepedic surgeon. Income is just one of the incentives people have when choosing a career or accepting a job.

 

[tracy]

As a nurse, I would have been in the top 10% of wage earners, but I would hardly call that a high paying job. Anyone who suggests I was overpaid needs to walk a shift in my shoes! My mom hasn't had a paying job since my brother was born over 30 years ago. She never lacked for money though because my dad had a good job. That's why stats like that are sort of hollow.

The other problem with stats like that is that it just shows federal income tax. Of course the poor won't pay much of that. Let's include things like GST and you'll see they contribute a much larger portion of their income.

 

[Colpy]

Here is the graph Colpy: I linked because it is a large file.

Thanks Scott Free.

My God, that is SOOOO much worse than my original memory of the problem as presented.

The roots of the next revolution.......and that is not a good thing, as the elites can now control the masses as easily as they did throughout the Middle Ages...........doomed to failure.

I confess, I looked for the source.....it was the NY Times, hardly a leftist looney magazine.

And yes, in case you are wondering, this is really me.

 

[Colpy]

These numbers don't tell much of a story do they?

Like that the bottom wage earners may be students or part time workers or simply engaged in other activities besides making lots of money. Or that the top wage earners include doctors, police, teachers, engineers etc. that are engaged in careers with a great deal of training and or responsibility. Surely a part time student worker is not entitled to the same wage as an orthepedic surgeon. Income is just one of the incentives people have when choosing a career or accepting a job.

Check out Scott's graph...........it is based on the average workers' salary.....it is a shocker. And it doesn't come from the Brain-Dead Workers Daily.....it is the NY Times.

 

[#juan]

Canada’s high-income earners are not overtaxed—report



October 13, 2005 | National Office | Topic(s): Taxes & tax cuts | Publication Type: Press Release



OTTAWA—Despite recent reports to the contrary, Canada’s high-income earners do not pay a disproportionately large share of personal income tax.
A new analysis by Prof. Neil Brooks of Osgoode Hall Law School, released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, takes a closer look at the numbers in Statistics Canada’s “Tax Incidence in Canada.” The Stats Can report sparked a series of news stories this spring claiming the top 10% of income earners pay 52% of the total tax bill but Brooks finds these figures both misleading and incomplete in assessing the fairness of the tax system.
The Statistics Canada study showed that the share of federal income taxes paid by the top 10% increased from 46% in 1990 to 52.6% in 2002. Brooks points out, however, that this increase is not a result of the tax system becoming more progressive. Instead, the main reason for the increase was because the share of earned income going to the most affluent among us increased by 12.6% over that same period, while the share going to the bottom 50% of tax-filers declined.
“In fact, the increasing inequality in the distribution of income in Canada is the real story of the Statistics Canada analysis,” Brooks says. “Canada is becoming a much more unequal society.”
Furthermore, Statistics Canada included all tax-filers in their study, half of whom reported incomes of less than $23,000 in 2002. This inclusion lowered the threshold for being in the top 10% -- all those earning more than $64,500 were considered to be in this highest category -- and increased their apparent share of taxes paid.
Brooks points a finger at the business press for embracing the selective use of statistics to create false impressions about who pays the greatest share of taxes. When all taxes are considered, he notes, the Canadian tax system is roughly proportional.
“All Canadian residents -- whether they earned $10,000, $100,000 or $1,000,000 -- pay somewhere between 30% and 35% of their income in taxes of all kinds,” says Brooks. “Contrary to the claims of business groups, we already have a flat tax system. The mild progressivity of the income tax system simply offsets the regressivity of other taxes like the GST, retail sales taxes and property taxes, which take their biggest bite, proportionally, from lower-income Canadians.
“By itself, the percentage share of the income tax paid by the rich is almost meaningless in assessing the fairness of the tax system,” he concludes.

 

[Walter]

50% of Canadians make $40,000 or less. Hedy Fry said it in the House of Commons just a couple of weeks ago during the debate over the Speech from the Throne.

Did she say if it's a good or a bad thing?

 

[darkbeaver]

Thank-you Juan, now perhaps the yapping whineing rich will stuff thier pie holes. I doubt it though other information indicates that many of them are psycopathic monsters who will continue to steal thier wealth out of the common allotment by all manner of deciet as they have for many generations.They represent the segment of humanity that must be pruned back substantially for the continuation and good of the many. Our species can no longer afford the useless wealthy, they have to go.