VANCOUVER—Today—Wednesday, June 15—Canadians celebrate Tax Freedom Day, the day in the year when they start working for themselves, not government, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
Tax Freedom Day measures the total annual tax burden imposed on Canadian families by federal, provincial, and municipal governments. This year, it comes four days later than in 2021, when it fell on June 11. This is the latest date it’s been over last 15 years.
“If Canadians paid all their taxes up front, they would work the first 165 days of this year before bringing any money home for themselves and their families,” said Jake Fuss, Associate Director of Fiscal Studies at the Fraser Institute.
In 2022, the average Canadian family (with two or more people) in Newfoundland & Labrador will pay $51,865 in total taxes, $47,897 in Nova Scotia, $45,310 in New Brunswick, and $42,982 in PEI. That’s more than 40 per cent of annual income going to income taxes, payroll taxes (including the Canada Pension Plan), health taxes, sales taxes (like the GST), property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes, “sin” taxes and more.
Represented as days on the calendar, the total tax burden for Canada nationally compromises more than five months of income—from January 1 to June 14. This year, Tax Freedom Day—the day Canadians finally start working for themselves—lands on June 5th in PEI, June 11th in New Brunswick, June 13th in Nova Scotia, and June 22nd in Newfoundland & Labrador.
But Canadians should be worried about how deficits across most of the region will push their individual Tax Freedom Days later in the future because of the borrowing (i.e. deficits) being used now to finance current spending.
To better illustrate this point, the study also calculates a Balanced Budget Tax Freedom Day—the day of the year when the average Canadian finally starts working for themselves if governments paid for all of this year’s spending with taxes collected this year.
In 2022, the Balanced Budget Tax Freedom Day for Atlantic Canadians arrives on June 20th for New Brunswick and PEI, June 29th for Nova Scotia, and the latest Balanced Budget Tax Freedom Day out of the entire Atlantic region and second latest nationally (after Quebec) is July 7th in Newfoundland & Labrador.
“Tax Freedom Day helps put the total tax burden in perspective, and helps Canadians understand just how much of their money they pay in taxes every year,” Fuss said.
“Canadians need to decide for themselves whether they are getting their money’s worth when it comes to how governments are spending their tax dollars.”
Tax Freedom Day for each province varies according to the extent of the provincially and locally levied tax burden.
2022 provincial Tax Freedom Days (earliest to latest)
PROVINCE
DATE
Manitoba
June 4
Prince Edward Island
June 5
British Columbia
June 7
Saskatchewan
June 8
Alberta
June 9
News Brunswick
June 11
Ontario
June 12
Nova Scotia
June 13
Newfoundland & Labrador
June 22
Quebec
July 1
Canada
June 15
Media Contact:
Jake Fuss, Associate Director of Fiscal Studies, Fraser Institute
To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:
Drue MacPherson, Fraser Institute
drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org
The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of 86 think-tanks. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute’s independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit fraserinstitute.org.
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