Top 1% of tax filers saw incomes rise by almost 10% in 2021: StatsCan

Statistics Canada says the country’s top one per cent of tax filers saw their incomes rise by almost 10% in 2021, while those in the bottom half saw their average income decline.

The agency says the incomes of the top earnings group, excluding capital gains, jumped 9.4% higher to $579,000.

Meanwhile, filers in the top 0.1% saw their average income increase 17.4% to almost $2.1 million and those in the top 0.01% experienced an average income increase of 25.7%, bringing their earnings to about $7.7 million.

At the same time, filers in the bottom half saw their average income fall by $1,400 to $21,100 in 2021 as the government ended many of its pandemic benefit programs.

Statistics Canada adds women made up roughly 26% of the top one per cent of income tax filers, up from 25.4% in 2020 and 11.4% in 1982.

Its research also looked at money made from the sale of a home or other asset, finding 12.25 of tax filers received capital gains, which had an average value of $37,600 in 2021. Average capital gains were $29,300 in 2020.

The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.