Top 1% of tax filers saw incomes rise by almost 10% in 2021: Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada says the country's top one per cent of tax filers saw their incomes rise by almost 10 per cent in 2021, while those in the bottom half saw their average income decline.

The agency says the incomes of the top earnings group, excluding capital gains, jumped 9.4 per cent higher to $579,000.

Meanwhile, filers in the top 0.1 per cent saw their average income increase 17.4 per cent to almost $2.1 million and those in the top 0.01 per cent experienced an average income increase of 25.7 per cent, bringing their earnings to about $7.7 million.

At the same time, filers in the bottom half saw their average income fall by $1,400 to $21,100 in 2021 as the government ended many of its pandemic benefit programs.