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Have you ever wondered what the most expensive annual budget item is for the average Canadian family? If housing is the first thing that comes to mind, then you’d be surprised to find out you’re wrong.

In reality, the average Canadian household spends more on taxes than any other single expense—more, in fact, than housing, food, and clothing all combined.

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It’s easy to be misled into thinking that the income and payroll tax deductions on our paycheques are the extent of our tax burden. But that’s a mistake.

To understand the full cost of taxation, you must consider all the taxes—both visible and hidden—that we pay throughout the year to federal, provincial and municipal governments including sales taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, carbon taxes, import taxes, alcohol taxes and much more.

All these taxes add up and make our family’s total tax bill expensive.

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Specifically, in 2017 the average Canadian family (including single Canadians) earned $85,883 in income and paid $37,058 in total taxes. That’s 43.1% of income going to taxes.