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Canada finally reveals the results of its universal basic income experiment (ecency.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by mintiefresh@piefed.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] CanadaRocks@piefed.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

You're looking at one tax. If you look at ALL Canadian taxes, income tax, provincial taxes, sales tax, import taxes, fuel taxes, property taxes, health services taxes, business taxes Canadians actually pay about HALF of their gross income in taxes. We are f'n taxed to death in Canada.

[-] Englishgrinn@lemmy.ca 37 points 2 weeks ago

This is an untrue statistic often trotted out by the Conservative Frasier Institute. Canadians think we're taxed far more than we are, because public opinion has been manipulated to believe so. Average Canadian pays about one third of income to taxes - creeping up as you move up taxes brackets

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I don’t wish to interrupt a Canadian discussion, but the US is similar - ~20% state and federal taxes, property tax, medical coverage, etc. are all going to be about 30% income, if not more, depending on location. So not unreasonable at face value without going too deep into the particulars of each.

[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 15 points 2 weeks ago

Meanwhile, in south Carolina, I pay bring home about 60% of my income, I can't afford to eat well, I get absolutely zero assistance for food, medical insurance, or God Forbid basic income, and I am genuinely contemplating attempting to live in my vehicle in an abandoned parking lot near my work to save on gas money.

[-] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 2 weeks ago

UBI would also be good for the economy, as it stimulates consumerism. To economists, CEOs and politicians, you have to talk about the positive effects on the economy.

[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

Indeed, it isn't like the money paid out for UBI just goes into a black hole. Sure, some will save it. But many will spend it.

[-] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago

We are f’n taxed to death in Canada.

Bullshit

[-] CanadaRocks@piefed.ca 1 points 1 week ago

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/canadians-celebrate-tax-freedom-day-on-june-8-2025-infographic-breakdown.png

Id say giving 68k in taxes on an average Cdn family income of 158k is taxed to death, wouldn't you?

[-] KingPorkChop@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Fraser Institute is a conservative Canadian org. They cheat on their taxes and don't pay them because they're "a charity" and think no one else should pay taxes. Of course they fudge numbers like this and find extremes.

If you do the actual math on your personal taxes, unless you are somehow extra ordinary, you'll find overall you're being taxed in the neighbourhood of 30%.

[-] Zacpod@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Show your work, please. I'm pretty sure it's closer to 25-30%.

Edit: confirmed. I did the math. It's closer to 35% for most people. Including income tax, sales tax, and property tax.

[-] LeFantome@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Many middle class Canadian pay 25% or more just in income tax. Then you have to add sales taxes, property taxes, and the rest.

I would say he is about right.

The top income tax bracket is over 50%. If you are very high income, you can pay well over 30% just in income tax (overall).

For anybody that does not understand progressive income tax brackets, a top rate of 50% does not mean you pay 50% on all income. You pay nothing to a certain point, pay a lower percentage up to a certain level, and then it goes up on what you make beyond that level. On the 30,000th dollar you make, you might pay 25 cents tax. On the 200,000th dollar, you might pay 53 cents. On your first dollar, you pay nothing.

[-] figjam@midwest.social 5 points 2 weeks ago

Oh no! Won't someone think about the highest earners! #clutchpearls

[-] Eranziel@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

25% might be what comes off your pay cheque, sure. That's not actually how much income tax most people end up paying. How big of a refund did you get this year?

[-] Zacpod@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

So, I've done the math. Let's take someone with twice the avg canadian salary.
They're making $130k/year.
They pay about 29% tax. $38116/year.
Let's say they own property in a HCOL area. Maybe $3k/year property tax.
That leaves them with $88k left.
Assuming worst case scenario - they don't pay mortgage or rent or anything and spend every penny. So they're paying about $13332 in sales tax.
That leaves 75550 that they've spent before tax. Which is about 42% of their income going to tax paid, in total.
Again. That's worst case scenario. In reality, they're paying a mortgage and/or contributing to an RRSP or even paying rent. All of which would substantially reduce that percentage.

The idea that Canadians (on average) are paying 50% tax is just right wing propaganda bullshit designed to scare you in to cutting social programs in hope of getting a little trickle down action. Don't fall for it.

For me, I'm paying about 35% tax, in total. Including sales tax, income tax, and property tax. And I think I'm far closer to the "normal" percentage most middle class Canadians pay.

[-] healthetank@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

Assuming this was supposed to reply to my response (you're just responding directly to the main post FYI).

Canadians actually pay about HALF of their gross income in taxes

I haven't ever heard a number this big. Where did you get this from, and how does it compare to other countries?

I don't disagree - we're taxed more than the US, but that comes with things like single-payer healthcare and higher regulatory enforcement. GST, for example, isn't something collected in the US meaning they only have the effective PST component of our sales tax, which varies widely by municipality to municipality, but is quite a bit less.

[-] Eranziel@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Single-payer meducal systems are objectively less expensive than the US's ludicrous system. Americans pay the highest per-capita for medical care in the developed world by a huge margin. Technically it's not taxes, but that's because it's directly feeding corporate profits. It's still effectively mandatory cost of living.