Tuesday, May 17, 2005

After-tax income hits plateau

AFTER FIVE consecutive years of strong growth, Canadian families of all types have experienced no significant change in after-tax income for two years in a row.

Families of two or more people saw their average after-tax income drop slightly to an estimated $59,900 in 2003 from $60,400 in 2002, after adjusting for inflation.

In contrast, after-tax income for the same families between 1996 and 2001 grew at an average annual rate of 3.2%.

For single-parent families headed by women, average after-tax income held steady at about $30,000 in 2003.

Low-income families

About 726,000 Canadian families were living in low income in 2003. That works out to 8.4% of all families, slightly lower than 8.6% in 2002 and well below the peak of 12.1% in 1996.

About 843,000 children aged 17 and under, or 12.4% of the total, were living in low-income families in 2003, compared with more than 1.3 million in 1996. The rate was unchanged from 2002, but well below the peak of 18.6% in 1996.

Senior families in which the major income earner was aged 65 had average after-tax income of $43,800 in 2003, also unchanged from the year before but 10% higher than 1996.

Families of two or more people paid an estimated $12,800 on average in personal income taxes, a marginal $200 less than in 2002 (after adjusting for inflation).

The average family received an estimated $7,800 in government transfers such as employment insurance, Old Age Security or Child Tax Benefits in 2003. In 1996, the average was $8,300.

For more information, contact Client Services (1-888-297-7355 or 613-951-7355), Income Statistics Division.

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© 2004, 2005 Statistics Canada.