After-tax income of census family

Status: This standard was approved as a departmental standard on March 21, 2016.

Definition

After-tax income refers to total income less income taxes of the statistical unit during a specified reference period. Income taxes refers to the sum of federal income taxes, provincial and territorial income taxes, less abatement where applicable. Provincial and territorial income taxes include health care premiums in certain jurisdictions. Abatement reduces the federal income taxes payable by persons residing in Quebec or in certain self-governing Yukon First Nation settlement lands.

Census family is defined as a married couple and the children, if any, of either and/or both spouses; a couple living common law and the children, if any, of either and/or both partners; or a lone parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same dwelling and that child or those children. All members of a particular census family live in the same dwelling. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. Children may be children by birth, marriage, common-law union or adoption regardless of their age or marital status as long as they live in the dwelling and do not have their own married spouse, common-law partner or child living in the dwelling. Grandchildren living with their grandparent(s) but with no parents present also constitute a census family.

Usage

When the mean, median or percentages are calculated for income, the units without income may be either included or excluded based on the analytic purpose. The units included in the calculation should be specified.

To facilitate comparison of income of persons not in families and families of different sizes or compositions, income can be adjusted using factors that account for the possibility of economies of scale for larger families. See 'adjusted after-tax income' in the Additional information section for more information.

Conformity to relevant internationally recognized standards

This standard does not correspond to the disposable income concept contained in the "Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second edition". Unlike after-tax income, the disposable income concept accounts for social insurance contributions and other non-discretionary spending in order to measure income available for consumption and savings.

Measurements

  • 'Amount of income' is expressed in Canadian dollars. The data presentation should specify any adjustments made, including whether the unit of measure is current dollars or constant dollars. Amount of income can range from the lowest negative number on the file to the maximum positive number on the file. October 15, 2012 to current
  • Canadian dollar at current prices May 12, 2003 to current

Classifications

Additional information

In order to reduce response burden, many social statistics programs at Statistics Canada now gather information on income components and income taxes from administrative records from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to derive after-tax income. The after-tax income concept presented in this definition does not correspond to any income concepts used by CRA for tax purposes.

See:

Relation to previous version

  • After-tax income of census family March 21, 2016 to current

    This is the current standard.

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