Fraser Institute tracked data since 1961, when the average Canadian family lost just a third of its income to taxes and spent more than half on necessities
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The average Canadian family spends more of its income on taxes than it does on the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing, a new report reveals.
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Numbers from “Taxes versus the Necessities of Life: The Canadian Consumer Tax Index, 2026 Edition” by The Fraser Institute found that the average family loses 41.9 per cent of its income to a variety of taxes, while food, shelter and clothing combined eat up just 36 per cent.
It wasn’t always this way. Back in 1961, the first year for which the report has data, just 33.5 per cent of the average family’s income went to taxes, while more than half (56.5 per cent) covered basic necessities.
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