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The report looks at the tax burden on labour income by calculating a “tax wedge:” the sum of all income tax, employee and employer social security contributions, and payroll tax, minus benefits, as a percentage of labour costs.

The report, called “Taxing Wages,” will be published in May, but the OECD released the data ahead of time.

The data help support the Harper government’s oft-repeated argument that it has reduced the overall tax burden on Canadians.

Since 2007, the year after the Harper government assumed power, the tax burden for Canadian families at all income levels has decreased, the data show.

The largest decrease has been for lower-income families with children. For single parents with two children at 67 per cent of average wage, for example, the tax wedge decreased by about four percentage points from 2007 to 2012.

“Canada has, over the last five or six years, already decreased the tax burden on low incomes a lot, especially families with children,” Brys said.

The tax burden on labour income in Canada is also well below the OECD average for all family types, and even more so for families with children at lower income levels, the data show. The low burden on families with children is mainly the result of generous child benefits, Brys said.

These benefits are typically reduced when income increases. Brys pointed out that a disadvantage of such a system is that there’s less incentive for workers at certain income levels to seek higher pay because not only is extra income taxed more heavily, but benefits are lowered.