1907- Sir Richard Cartwright in the House of Commons recommends that women also be permitted to take part in a national pension plan. The recommendation is not passed.
1911 – Alberta Dower Act gives a wife only one –third of the estate if her husband did not leave a will.
1916- Marjory MacMurchy publishes a study suggesting the economic and social value of housework and care of children.
1917- the federal government creates personal income tax to support World War II
1920s – A mothers’ pension was created ‘to prevent families from breaking p after the death or incapacity of the father”
1920- Dr .Augusta Stowe Gullen in “Should Husbands Pay Their Wives Salaries?” maintaining that the earning of the male depends upon the wife ‘s unpaid support labor.
Stowe recommends that the wife be seen as the business partner of the man and an equal partner in the marriage relationship.
1925 MP Agnes MacPhail in the House of Commons maintains that `women are entitled to economic freedom in the home and financial remuneration for their work.
1941- federal government collects all personal and corporate income tax
1944 – Family Allowance is begun in Canada which gives some financial recognition to the care role. However it is not income splitting. It is seen as a better way to help those raising children, more targeted than an overall wage increase. The plan is abolished in the mid 1990s. Family allowance is about 20% of an average industrial wage.
1948- The US allows married couples to file individually or jointly, whichever they feel is to their tax benefit. Most couples choose to file jointly.
1949 Margaret Mead in “Male and Female” notes the effect on women when their work at home is undervalued
1952 – Income Tax Appeal No 176 v MNR 54 DTC 298 – income sharing was assured if a married man was employed by his spouse as employer
1953 – UN System of National Accounts sets up the Gross National Product to measure a country’s financial output and remains the standard to the present, in 2006, counting only paid work.
1958 – a married man could deduct one –third of his income of $3,000 to support his spouse at home. This ratio of 33% of an average income dropped in 2006 to about 14%.
1960 –Corporate tax is 60% of government revenue. By 2006 the revenue from corporations is only 17% of the federal income and personal income tax has gone from 8% of the budge in 1938 to nearly half.
1960 -noticing that tax policy does not recognize caregiving or costs of raising children, and that one quarter of American children live in poverty. Professor Milton Friedman of the US proposes a negative income tax so government makes payments to those with low incomes and only taxes those with higher incomes.
1967- Ken Carter prepares a Royal Commission on Taxation recommending that the household is the fairest unit of taxation. The Carter Commission 6 volume report recommends more personal and married deductions. It says that the family should be considered the unit of taxation. The family tax rate would not be the same as the individual tax rate but on a ‘family rate schedule” The lower income spouse would therefore not be taxed simply at a higher rate for sharing than if taxed separately
1968 – In the US Pres Johnson proposes a war on poverty and a guaranteed annual income. Negative income tax is again suggested for the very poor.
1969- Margaret Bentson focuses on women’s unpaid work noticing that women have worked ‘outside the money economy” and as a result their work has been deemed by government valueless. She said in “The Political Economy of Women’s Liberation that the wage earner ‘s wage actually busy the labor of two people .
1970- Status of Women prepares a Royal Commission on Taxation, recommending income splitting but it is not implemented.
1970 in the US Daniel Patrick Moynihan said money should be paid to mothers of small children not as welfare ‘with all the stigma attached to that status but as a return to the policy of the mother’s pension – payment for the services these women perform”
1970 – Selma James of the International Wages for Housework campaign argues that Housewives are an important element of the capitalist economy and product a product of children and a benefit to the paid labor force.
1970 In the US the Homemakers’ Equal Rights Association argues that the wife is not property of her husband and such a principle is destructive to the family unit. She asks that laws recognize homemaker’s nonmonetary contribution to the family welfare as being of equal value to that of the wage earner and that married women be recognized by law as full and equal partners with their spouses.
1971 – The Castonguay-Neveu Commission in Quebec suggests a two –part guaranteed income program. One part has a high tax benefit for whose who can’t do paid work and a second part has as lower tax benefit for those who do paid work.
1971 – in Manitoba under The Act Respecting Married Women, income sharing was assumed.
1971 – Statistics Canada estimated that household work such as caregiving accounts for 41% of the Gross Domestic Product.
1971 – A Special Senate Committee on Poverty proposes a guaranteed income for Canadian families
1972 – taxation federally is based only on individual income, with 10 tax brackets ranging from 17% to 47% tax rates.
1972- In Canada the Income Tax Act is amended so that caregiving is valued only if nonparental and only if the mother is an earner or student learning skills so she can earn.
1972- the Canadian Council on Social Development does a study of a Guaranteed Annual Income, which would recognize care work.
1973 – Murdoch v Murdoch- Divorcee from a farm claims a share of the farm property jointly worked during the marriage. The court at first says no but J. Laskin says that there is a ‘constructive trust’ which builds up during a marriage and she is entitled to a share of assets.
1973 – Suzie Fleming in England asks for recognition of women’s unpaid caregiving and giving women direct funding in the form of a family allowance.
1974 – Supreme Court of Canada (Murdoch v Murdoch) rules against equal benefit of household assets after a divorce, but a public outcry leads to changes in the legislation to permit such recognition. In effect this permits a type of income splitting but only on divorce.
1974 – Manitoba sets up a tax experiment of a guaranteed annual income, and calls it Mincome.
1974 – the Canada Pension Plan Act is amended to reflect the contributions of women with a minor adjustment to allow short-term dropout from the plan..
1975 – The UN World Conference of Women in Mexico passes a resolution to recognize the economic value of women’s work in the home, in food preparation and in volunteer activities.
1975 Women in the US who because of divorce have been not permitted to continue as homemakers and who have been unable to find paid jobs due to their age, find themselves in poverty and without unemployment benefits which are given only to those who have been earning. This ‘displaced homemaker’ movement asks government to value the care role at home.
1976 the Law Reform Commission of Canada argues that women with young children on divorce should have to get paid jobs to support them as a way to prove ‘self-sufficiency’. Justice Chouinard of the Court of Appeal of Quebec in 1975 in Messier v Delage rules that spousal support is merited in some situations but that spouses who continue to get a support for being homemakers are a ‘drag on the other” and have a ‘lifetime of idleness” Later courts disagree with this concept of caregiving.
1977 – A US Conference on Women passes a resolution that money paid to homemakers as income transfer payments should be called a wage not welfare in order to give those who receive it dignity for the work they do.
1977 – Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women president Lucie Pepin proposes that benefits for care of children should go to all mothers not just to those who work outside the home. This is not enacted.
1978 – John Kenneth Galbraith in “Almost Everyone’s Guide to Economics” argues that if the unpaid labor of women were included in the GNP, economics would notice a ‘very sudden increase ‘ in the tally.
1978 – The Quebec Conseil du Status de la Femme suggests that family allowance be increased in view of child-raising and to recognize the public services homemakers perform.
197- 9 the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada’s umbrella women’s rights groups, denies membership in its advocacy of the Wages for Housework movement.
1980- The Second Conference for Women, in Copenhagen passes a solution to have women’s work in the home and on the farm counted in the GNP and to have the definition of worker broadened to included those whose work is unpaid. The changes are not made in Canada.
1981 – Stats Canada surveys time use and unpaid care hours for the first time in history
1981 – Moge v Moge Supreme Court of Canada rules that a wife is entitled to spousal support on divorce because her ability to get paid employment at an adequate salary after being at home is sometimes permanently lessened because of the care role at home. Justice L’Heureux Dube says that there must be a principle of substantive equality of ex spouses, not just equality on paper.
1981 – The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women maintains that maternity is a social function that benefits society/
1981 – MP Margaret Mitchell of Canada suggests that the parent at home raising a child get tax credits for the job of childrearing. ‘Children: Our National Priority’
1983 – the Holy See Charter of the Rights of the Family argues that the work of the mother in the home be recognized and there should be a family wage. The United Church of Canada BC Conference urges the provincial government to recognize ‘parenting as a valuable contribution in society by ensuring adequate resources for parenting.”
1983 – NDP MP Flora Macdonald says ‘much more should be done to recognize the contribution that women who work in the home make to our society” MP Judy Erola says benefits should be provide to all families whether they use daycare or not. NDP MP Nelson Riis says he wants a tax system to recognize the ‘cost and work involved in raising children’ .
1984 – the Labour Force Survey in Canada continues to have no category for work that is unwaged or volunteer.
1985 – UN holds a world conference on unpaid labor, urging all member nations to recognize and value care work
1985 – The Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (Macdonald Commission) recommends a universal income security program as one way to value caregiving and preserve dignity of citizens.
1985 – The Quebec government promised to include homemakers in the pension plan but does not deliver.
1985 – the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada proposes a Universal Income Security Plan to replace adult and child tax exemptions and refundable child tax credits. It is not enacted.
1985 – the UN ‘s third World Conference on Women in Kenya asks nations to include women’s unwaged caregiving, food productive and household activities in the GDP of every nation. Canada does not do so.
1986 – a study by Lenon, Canadian National Child Care Study counts parental care as child care and tallies that the value to the economy of unpaid child care is between $20 and $27 billion per year.
1986 – Sylvia Gold of the Advisory Council on the Status of Women says that women’s caregiving must be compensated fairly so their future is secure whether their work is paid or unpaid. She says that their contribution to society must be recognized whether or not they are in the paid labor force.
1986 – The Macdonald Commission suggests a guaranteed minimum income for all low income families.
1987 – the spousal deduction in Canada is converted to a nonrefundable credit.
1987 – Statistics Canada continues to count only those who are paid as members of the labor force.
1987- a Gallup poll finds that 82% of Canadians favor pensions for homemakers
1988 –Restructuring of taxation in Canada to have 3 tax brackets instead of 10. Many benefits are clawed back based on household income, assuming that there is income splitting. However the base of tax collection remains individual income.
1988 – A refundable child tax credit is made available to fewer households.
1988 – The child tax deduction is reduced from $710 to $470 on the theory that it benefited the wealthy too much. It is converted into a nonrefundable credit and by 1991 it is further reduced and then in 1992 is abolished.
1989 – Conservative Party proposes tax assistance to all families to permit them the option to be home with a child or use daycare. However legislation of successive governments ignores at-home care and favors 3rd party care.
1989- Elsom v Elsom – the Supreme Court of Canada rules that on divorce. childrearing and household management constitute a contribution to the wellbeing of the home and automatically makes the caregiver eligible for a share of family assets.
1991 – Canadian census requires people to consider unpaid household chores as excluded from ‘work’ and for homemakers to say they ‘never worked’. Stats Canada receives objections to the terminology and Carol Lees, Saskatoon Homemaker lobbies for a national conference on unpaid labor.
1991 – France and Norway being to include unpaid work in their satellite GNP estimates.
1991 –The National Farmers’ Union urges Census Canada to change its census question in order to recognize unpaid work of family members and in particular of women farmers.
1992- Canada discontinues its tax recognition of the care role. No longer can families claim a credit for their dependent children. The Child Tax Credit is also eliminated.
1992 – Supreme Court of Canada (Moge v Moge) finds that the contribution of a spouse in the home is entitled to recognition for its role in maintaining the home and is entitled to spousal support in some circumstances when the marriage ends. The court rules that women should not be penalized for raising children instead of pursing a career and that spousal support must be designed to achieve equitable sharing of the economic consequences of marriage.
1992 – Canada ends the funding it used to extend to caregivers at home- the family allowance the child dependent deduction.
1992 – the AFEAS in Quebec launches a petition asking the province to recognize unpaid work and to give an income tax credit to all children/
1992 – Stats Canada completes a study of the value of household work in Canada in 1986. It estimates it at $159 billion per year using the opportunity cost method or $198 billion a year using the replacement cost method. This unpaid work is a gift women give to the economy but does not figure in national tallies as work. It is however estimated that if counted it would be 31.3 to 39.3 % of the GDP.
1993 – Conservative MP Guy St. Julien proposed a salary for homemakers in a private member’s bill.
1993 – Saskatchewan homemaker Carol Lees risks a jail sentence for refusing to fill out a census form which requires her to state that as a homemaker she ‘did not work’.
1993 – Canada joins all other member UN nations to sign the Platform for Action at Beijing, promising to tally and value unpaid care work.
1993 – Canada hosts a conference on the measurement and value of unpaid work.
1993- Government tallies social programs as costs only. The family allowance costs the state $2.1 billion. Old Age Security costs $14 billion, the guaranteed annual income supplement costs $4.2 billion. The tally examines only costs of the program not benefits to the community.
1993 – Peter v Beblow – the Supreme Court of Canada rules that in divorce case a common law wife has a right to an equal share of assets when a marriage dissolves. Justice Beverly McLaughlin writes that childcare and household services are worth recognition by the court.
1993 – the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women publishes a paper asking voters in the election to ask what each party how unpaid work will be counted.
1993 the Canadian Alliance of Home Managers holds a national conference asking that unpaid work be recognized in tax systems and in pensions.
1994- The National Action Committee on the Status of Women announces a boycott of the 1996 census if questions on unpaid work are not included
1994 – Decima Poll shows that many parents want to be able to split income
1994 – Statistics Canada publishes a new tally of the value of household work in Canada which it now estimates at $210 billion to $318 billion per year – 31% to 46% of the GDP were it counted which it is not. It estimates that per woman the value of one year’s worth of housework and care work is between $11,920 and $16,860 to the economy.
1994 – a Conference on Unpaid Work is held in Quebec cohosted by Mothers are Women, the Canadian Alliance of Home Managers and the Association feminine d’education et d’action sociale. The conference asks for listing of home manager or caregiver as an occupation in the Standard Occupational Classification dictionaries. It is unsuccessful in this lobby.
1995- At the UN the Platform for Action in Beijing at the World Conference of Women promises to tally unpaid work and reflect its value in satellite accounts for GDP. Canada signs the resolution,
1995 – The UN Human Development Report estimates that women’s unpaid and undervalued work is worth $11 trillion annually, that ¾ of men’s work is paid but that only one-third of women’s work is paid. Dr. Mahbub of Huq says that there is an ‘unwitting conspiracy on a global scale to undervalue women’s work and contributions to society”
1996 – the Canadiancensus for the first time includes 3 questions surveying hours of unpaid care work.
1997 – Homemaker Beverley Smith complains at the UN Division for the Advancement of Women that Canada’s tax, pension and childcare legislation fail to recognize unpaid care work. The complaint is supported by Endeavour Forum( Australia), the World Movement of Mothers ( France), UNICA in Rome as well Canadian groups – Mothers are Women, Kids First Parent Association of Canada. Canada denies there is any problem.
1997 – Employment insurance is used to permit funding of maternity but hours of paid work are the criterion for qualifying, not the fact of maternity itself. Style of paid work is a criterion so that the self-employed and employers are also excluded from maternity benefits.
1997- the Liberal Government’s National Children’s Agenda proposes preferential funding to children in 3rd party nonparental care. The at-home care role is devalued.
1997 -The Fraser Institute finds that due to individual based taxation there is a penalty of up to 150% higher tax on households where there is only one earner.
1998- April 1 – Bill C -244 in House of Commons is proposed by Paul Szabo, Liberal MP to permit income splitting. Reform MP Ken Epp also favors the proposal.
1998- The Alberta Tax Review Committee recommends a flat tax for the province, in effect a household based tax.
1998- Prof Isabella Bakker of York University notes the value of the care sector to the economy, particularly regarding savings to health budgets by unpaid care of the sick at home.
1998 – the Federal government permits a tax credit for care of the elderly and disabled
1998- Oct 19 – Guy St. Julien, Liberal MP proposes a salary to the parent at home. Paul Szabo, Liberal seconds the motion. Eric Lowther, Reform, supports it.
1998 – GPI Atlantic estimates the value of civic and volunteer work in Nova Scotia at 10% of the GDP were it counted.
1998 Liberal MP Paul Szabo proposes a caregiver benefit per child or a universal deduction in a tax subcommittee and in a private members’ bill to pay mothers at home $2600 a year.
1998 – 35th Parliament- Motion M-30 – votes 129 to 63 in favor of a tax credit for parental care of children at home
1998 – GP Atlantic estimates the economic value of housework and care of children in Nova Scotia to be over $10 billion in that province.
1999 – MP Jason Kenney moves in the House of Commons that the federal tax system be reformed to end discrimination against single income families and children. He is an Opposition member and the bill is not passed.
1999- a Commons committee looks at income splitting but says the costs are prohibitive. It does not examine money saved by having care roles done in the home.
1999- GPI Atlantic finds that with most adults in paid work, the number of volunteer hours people are contributing is down. It finds a 7.2% decline in such volunteer activity in Nova Scotia and a 4.7% decline across Canada in the past ten years.
2002 – NDP MP Peter Stoffer proposes Bill C-209,to amend the Income Tax Act to fund caregivers in the home. The motion says that deductions should be permitted for caregiver expenses for care of a family member’ as a result of a normal family obligation or the voluntary undertaking by the taxpayer to be a caregiver’.
2002 –NDP MP Peter Stoffer proposes BillC-240 – an Act to amend the EI Act and the Canada Labour Code to provide compassionate care benefits to those taking care of terminally ill family members in the home.
2002 _ Alberta adopts a single rate tax, in effect removing the single income tax penalty and permitting income splitting.
2005 Employment Insurance as a mechanism to value caregiving excludes many caregivers. The criteria of 840 paid hours per week in the previous year excludes many new mothers from maternity benefits and many caregivers of the elderly, handicapped or dying from accessing benefits. The requirement to be an employee not an employer or self-employed means many caregivers from those sectors cannot get financial recognition.
2005 – Conservative MP Lynne Yelich reveals results of a study of the Liberal compassionate care program finding that the program spent $70 million in administration in order to distribute $11 million in benefits
2005 – a tax comparison between provinces with household based tax and individual based tax reveals stark differences. For a single income family with two children and a household income of $30,000, there is $4,000 tax in Newfoundland but only $500 in Alberta. On a household income of $60,000, the Newfoundland couple pays $7,000 but the Alberta couple pays only $4,000. For the dual earner household earning $100,000, the Quebec household pays $14,000 tax while the Alberta couple pays $7,000.
2006 –Oct 31. Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announces that his government will permit sharing of all pension income.
2006 _Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says his government is considering permitting income splitting. Media speculation and interviews suggest strong public support for furthering the discussion.
2006 – the Women’s Economic Justice Project in Victoria BC recommends a guaranteed reliable income to recognize care work. Senator Hugh Segal recommends a guaranteed income.
2006 – Canada -18 pensioner groups advocating pension splitting form the Common Front, representing 2.6 million members. It is a successful lobby and pension splitting is made government policy. Compass polls find an above 80% approval rating for pension splitting. Guest speakers at their conference include Jack Mintz from the University of Calgary school of public policy and tax expert Warren Hamilton.Hosts Dan Braniff and Bernard Dussault host the groups which include Air Canada Pionairs, Alliance of Seniors, Allstream Retirees,ACEDR- CART (Canadian Assoc of Retired Teachers), CAPS (Canadian Activists for Pension Splitting), CARP, Canada’s Association for the Fifty Plus, CBC Pensioners,COMTECH, Communication and Technical Workers Credit Union, Bell Canada Pensioners’ Group (BPG), FADOQ (Mouvement des aines du Quebec), Federal Superannuates National Association (FSNA), General Motors (Salaried) Retirees, Police Retirees of Ontario, REAL Women of Canada, Response: A Thousand Voices (RTV), Nova Scotia Retired Teachers of Ontario (RTO),
2006 – CD Howe Institute releases an analysis of tax collection noting that personal income tax provides nearly half of government revenue at $109 billion. In1938 it was only 8% of the budget
2006 – Oct 31- Canadian government under Tax Fairness Plan legislates pension splitting to take effect 2007.
2007- A national conference is held in January on Parliament Hill hosted by MP Garth Turner, to advocate for general income splitting. The “It’s Fair to Share” conference has guest speakers representing legal and feminist arguments and family configurations including parent of handicapped child, single income, single parent and dual parent households. It is recognized that with the current situation equally earning households can have to pay unequal taxes, in some cases 45% higher tax unless income splitting is a tax option.
2007 -the federal government permits income splitting officially but only for pensioners.
2011 A Supreme Court of Canada decision rules in the case of two common law couples, both of which split up. Mr. Justice Thomas Cromwell writes for the majority that in such cases sometimes “both parties have worked together for the common good, with each making extensive but different contributions to the welfare of the other.” He says that in such situations the sharing of assets should be recognized and when they split up the ‘money remedy for unjust enrichment’ of one party over the other must be countered. He ruled that the couple should be treated as co-venturers and the lower earner or non-earner should not be treated as ‘hired help” He says that ‘many domestic relationships are more realistically viewed as a joint venture to which the parties jointly contribute’ .
2011- The Conservative Party of Canada under PM Stephen Harper permits households to split income if they are raising children to age 18 years, and for income up to $50,000. The estimate is made that 1.8 million families benefit from this tax option, saving an average $1300 per year.
2014- Rick Smith of the Broadbent Institute admits that income splitting would benefit lower income families but says since it would also benefit higher income families it is a flawed idea.
2014 – Andrea Mrozek of the Institute of Marriage and Family tells a parliamentary standing committee on finance that income splitting would establish tax fairness and fix an inequity currently in the system.
2014- Lawrence Solomon of Energy Probe admits that income splitting would have social impact and that many would likely prefer to be taxed under that sharing status.
2015 -After the Liberals win the election, they remove income splitting for young
families. Some in the party say that income splitting discourages mothers from getting paid work and prefer adding pressure to have dual incomes.
2022 The Institute for Research on Public Policy says it is unfair to allow seniors to split pension income while not allowing other couples to do so. It notes a current problem of unequal taxation of equally earning households, one that would not happen with income splitting.
2024 – If one member of a couple has reached 65 they can jointly choose to allocate up to half their pension income to the lower earning spouse or common law partner. Then they are taxed at a lower rate for the higher earner. This option is not available unless the couple is retired however.
2024 – It is legal to contribute to the RRSP of the spouse or common law partner, a type of income splitting, but this option benefits most those with significant income.
2024 – There is a small option for income splitting for incorporated businesses. It is legal for owners of an incorporated business to employ a spouse or children at a reasonable salary, to deduct that salary from corporate income and to have them pay tax at their likely lower marginal rate. This reduces the corporate tax bill. It does not apply to all families.
2024- When benefits are returned to households they are reduced based on total household income. Government assumes incomes are shared when it returns money but when the household pays tax treats them as individual earners. The Canada Child Benefit, childcare expenses and GST benefits are based on total household income.
2025 – There is movement to ask federal election candidates to consider offering income splitting or joint filing as a tax option.
Income Splitting in Canada 