By the Numbers — Income and Tax Inequality
Ottawa – May 22, 2014 – Most Western industrialized nations belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which represents the world’s richest economies. A recent OECD report finds that income inequality within these countries has significantly increased during the past three decades. A major contributing factor to growing inequality is a steady decrease in taxes on corporations and the rich. Among the world’s wealthiest countries, Canada and the United States stand out as two of the most unequal economies.
The Rich Have Gotten Richer –
47
Percent of total income growth that has gone to America's richest 1 percent since 1975.
80
Percent of total income growth taken home by America's top 10 per cent of income earners during the same period.
37
Percent of total income growth that has gone to Canada's richest 1 percent since the mid-1970s. Among Western industrialized nations, Canada is second only to the United States in the unequal distribution of income growth.
66
Percent of total income growth taken home by Canada's top 10 per cent of income earners since 1975.
50
Percent of total income growth that went to the top 10 per cent of income earners in Australia and the United Kingdom during the same period.
10
Percent of total income growth that has gone to the richest 1 percent of income earners in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain since 1975. While this is still a highly disproportionate share of income growth, it stands in stark contrast to the rates seen in Canada and the United States.
70
Percent of total wages and salaries that Italy's richest 10 per cent of income earners take home today.
85
Percent of total wages and salaries that Canada's richest 10 percent of income earners take home today. This is the highest rate among Western industrialized nations.
How the Rich Got Richer -
66%
Average personal income tax rate for the top 10 percent of income earners across Western industrialized nations in 1981.
43%
Average personal income tax rate for the top 10 percent of income earners across Western industrialized nations in 2014, representing a 23 percent decline in tax rates on the rich over the past three decades.
93%
Denmark's personal income tax rate for the richest 10 per cent of income earners, the highest rate among Western industrialized countries.
47%
Average corporate tax rate among Western industrialized economies in 1981.
25%
Average corporate tax rate among Western industrialized economies in 2014, representing a 22 percent decline in corporate tax rates over the past three decades.