In 2023, earning over $920,600 positioned you within the top 0.1 percent of income earners in Nova Scotia. This figure is calculated before taxes, yet includes returns from investments, pensions, capital gains, as well as any refundable tax credits or government benefits.
Individuals at the highest end of the income spectrum experience a vastly different lifestyle, according to Lars Osberg, an economics professor at Dalhousie University.
“When your annual income exceeds a million dollars, your concerns shift to deciding which European vacation to take and how many to go on,” Osberg noted, contrasting this with the struggles of affording rent.
Recent data from Statistics Canada, derived from 2023 tax filings, illustrates the earnings of the wealthiest individuals in Nova Scotia.
The median total income, which encompasses capital gains, for those in the top 0.1 percent of tax filers was $1,181,600, while for the average Nova Scotian, it stood at $41,300—approximately 29 times lower.
New statistics from Statistics Canada based on tax filings from 2023 highlight the earnings of Nova Scotia’s highest-income residents. The top 0.1 percent earned over $920,000, nearly 29 times more than the average Nova Scotian. Lars Osberg, an economics professor, discusses these figures with Tom Murphy.
“The ongoing trend in Nova Scotia, similar to the rest of the country, points to a growing share of total income being allocated to the top one percent, particularly to the top one-tenth of that group,” Osberg commented.
Even within the upper echelon of earners, significant differences exist. To qualify as part of the top one percent in Nova Scotia, an individual needed to earn upwards of approximately $255,000.
Osberg indicated that professionals such as doctors and lawyers typically fall within this income range.
This income threshold was lower than what Kishun Von Wulffen anticipated. Having lived in Halifax for ten years, he believes that social mobility has declined during this period.
“In terms of upward mobility, the opportunities are quite limited,” he remarked.
For Mackenzie Murphy, a resident of Halifax, the income requirement to enter the top one percent appears “intimidating.”
She expressed that the circumstances for young individuals like herself have evolved compared to previous generations.
“Increasingly, you need more education to achieve any level of success,” Murphy stated. “It’s challenging because if you lack the resources to pursue education—especially as tuition costs rise—you also struggle to secure a decent livelihood.”
The statistics further indicate that those earning the highest incomes derive a significantly smaller portion of their earnings from salaries and wages.
For the top 0.1 percent, only around 25 percent of their income—capital gains included—comes from wages. Conversely, for the top one percent, this figure is 38 percent, compared to over 60 percent for all tax filers in Nova Scotia.
“There is a cap on how much one can earn from wages,” Osberg explained. “One can only work a limited number of hours each day.”
However, he noted that individuals with millions in assets can generate substantial annual income from investment returns.
“The larger the wealth, the greater the income derived from interest alone,” Osberg concluded.
In a report, Statistics Canada noted that for high earners across the nation, income from dividends, interest, and other sources represented a larger share of their earnings in 2023 compared to the preceding year.
The median income of top earners in Nova Scotia was lower than the national average.
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