Book Description

Thus fails to factor out inflation, and also fails to note the majority of families earn much less than the that much of the increase is due to the significant average income and their effective tax rates are real increase in the incomes of Canadians over lower than that of the statistical average family. [...] As a parody of accepting the Institute's calculation of tax free- the Fraser Institute's tax freedom day, in the early dom day and its implications, some newspapers 990s the British Columbia Federation of Labour accompany the story with a lament about the launched the first annual "corporate tax freedom onerous taxes that Canadians must bear. [...] The Canadian family pays almost 50% of its income information the Institute presents about the tax in taxes; the Canadian consumer tax index sug- system is flawed, misleading, pernicious, serious- gests that the tax bill of the average family grew ly distorts public knowledge, and hinders ratio- by ,550% since 96 ; the comparison of taxes nal debate about the tax system. [...] In addition to taxes, The purpose of measuring total income in the governments also raise revenues through the sale national income accounts is to provide a mea- of goods and services, licenses and permits, roy- sure of the value of the economic activity in the alties, rentals, investment income, and fines and country. [...] If the typical Canadian family is assumed to It does, however, produce the desired result of be the median family - the family at the mid- bumping up the amount of taxes paid by the av- point in the income scale, where 50% of the fam- erage family.