The High Cost of Getting Ahead: How Effective Tax Rates Affect Work Decisions by Lower-Income Families

Secondary earners in low-income families, usually the mother, face punishingly high tax burdens, according to the latest report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “The High Cost of Getting Ahead: How Effective Tax Rates Affect Work Decisions by Lower-Income Families,” author Alexandre Laurin finds that various federal and provincial government benefit programs, once they are clawed back with income, act like hidden tax rates, reducing the gains from work.