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Being one of B.C.'s top 1% not as far off as you might think

Over the past few months there has been a lot in the news about taxes - increased taxes to pay for services, taxes to pay for roads, bridges and transit.

Over the past few months there has been a lot in the news about taxes - increased taxes to pay for services, taxes to pay for roads, bridges and transit. The funny part is no one puts their hand up to say they're willing to pay more themselves; they want someone else to pay for it.

It reminded me of the protests that took place a couple years ago about the one per cent of the population that holds a large amount of wealth. Spawned from the exorbitant amount of money made by Wall Street executives, camps were set up, signs posted and a flurry of news crews sent out to cover the story. But who are B.C.'s one per cent?

I was curious, so I did a little bit of digging. I downloaded the summary of tax returns for 2011 and took a look at the numbers, and what I found was surprising.

If you reported more than $250,000 in total income on your tax return in 2011, congratulations, you are in the top one per cent. As a matter of fact, this group only made up .75 per cent of people who filed tax returns. They made 10 per cent of the income and paid 20 per cent of income taxes. After taking all their deductions, writeoffs and credits into account, 28.5 cents of every dollar they made went to the government.

The average income of this group was $581,000, and they paid an average of $165,900 in income tax.

While I was somewhat shocked to see B.C.'s top one per cent start at a relatively low income compared to the staggering numbers I heard in the media, it was the next few numbers that really surprised me.

If you reported a total income of $100,000 or more, you are in the top 6.3 per cent of filers - you made 28.5 per cent of the income and paid 47 per cent of the taxes.

Scraping by on $90,000 or more? You were in the top eight per cent of income earners in B.C. Only made it to $80,000? You are still in the top 11.4 per cent. But you and those above you earned 39.3 per cent of the income and paid 60 per cent of the taxes.

So where is the line drawn where you pay your "fair share" of taxes? Around $65,000 of total income, you represented 8.2 per cent of income and paid 8.1 per cent of the total tax bill.

At a total income of $60,000 or less, you represented almost 80 per cent of the people submitting returns, made 46 per cent of total income and paid a little over 25 per cent of the total income tax bill. To put that in perspective, those who made $150,000 or more represent 2.2 per cent of taxpayers, made less than 17 per cent of the income, yet paid 31 per cent of the taxes.

No one likes paying taxes. If we did, there wouldn't be such a lineup at Point Roberts on Saturdays to pick up packages, buy gas and stock up on cheese. If you feel you aren't paying your share, buy more lottery tickets - that money also goes into B.C. government coffers to pay for the services we all demand.

If you get lucky, you may end up in the top one per cent.

Source: cra-arc.gc.ca/gncy/stts/t1fnl-eng.html, 2013 (for the 2011 tax year)