Editing Openai/694c32ff-4db8-8006-a42d-34dfb80b14ea (section)

==== 3. How this lines up with statutory tax brackets ====

You asked about “tax brackets,” so two key pieces:
# Top marginal tax rates fell a lot while top incomes took off - Combined top marginal personal rate (federal + Ontario example) fell from about 80% in 1970 to ~51% by the late 1980s, via reforms in 1972, 1982 and 1987. taxfairness.ca<ref>{{cite web|title=taxfairness.ca|url=https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources/reports/canadas-affordability-divide-how-1s-rise-left-millions-behind|publisher=taxfairness.ca|access-date=2025-12-25}}</ref> - Corporate tax rates dropped from ~52% in 1982 to around 26–27% by 2022. taxfairness.ca<ref>{{cite web|title=taxfairness.ca|url=https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources/reports/canadas-affordability-divide-how-1s-rise-left-millions-behind|publisher=taxfairness.ca|access-date=2025-12-25}}</ref> - That period coincides with the explosion of top-end incomes and corporate profits documented in the DINA work. WID - World Inequality Database<ref>{{cite web|title=WID - World Inequality Database|url=https://prod.wid.world/www-site/uploads/2023/12/WorldInequalityLab_WP2023_27_Income-inequality-in-Canada_Final-1.pdf|publisher=WID - World Inequality Database|access-date=2025-12-25}}</ref>
# Effective total tax rate has become less progressive Canadians for Tax Fairness estimate total tax paid as a share of income (income, payroll, sales, property, etc.): taxfairness.ca<ref>{{cite web|title=taxfairness.ca|url=https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/resources/reports/canadas-affordability-divide-how-1s-rise-left-millions-behind|publisher=taxfairness.ca|access-date=2025-12-25}}</ref> - 1988: - Median earner and top 1% both paid ~35% of income in total taxes. - 2022: - Median earner: pays about 43% of income in total taxes. - Top 1%: pays only 23.6% of income in total taxes. So despite higher statutory rates on high brackets, the overall system (once you include GST, corporate taxes, capital gains rules, etc.) is now effectively more regressive than it was in the late 1980s.