Tax Freedom Day arrives for today according to The Fraser Institute. The Vancouver-based public policy organization says Canadians worked until June 27 to pay the total tax bill imposed on them by all levels of government.

This is two days later than in 2001, when Tax Freedom Day fell on June 26. In 1961, the earliest year for which the calculation has been made, Canada’s Tax Freedom Day was May 3.

“It is all but impossible for an ordinary citizen to have a clear idea of the demands imposed on them by the tax-taking efforts of government. Tax Freedom Day gives Canadians a true picture of their total tax burden,” says Jason Clemens, the Institute’s director of fiscal studies.

Canadians can calculate their personal tax bill using the Institute’s Personal Tax Freedom Day Calculator at www.fraserinstitute.ca.

The taxes used to calculate Tax Freedom Day include income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes, as well as profit taxes, health, social security and employment taxes, import duties, license fees, taxes on the consumption of alcohol and tobacco, natural resource fees, fuel taxes, hospital taxes, and a host of other levies.

The Institute says the average Canadian family absorbed a $761 increase in their total tax bill between 2001 and 2002. Only personal income taxes, import duties, and natural resource revenues were lower in 2002 than in 2001 for the average Canadian family. One of the two general tax categories with the largest increases was liquor, tobacco, amusement and other excise taxes (or “sin” taxes) due to the fact that the federal government and every provincial government increased tobacco taxes in 2002.

The second category is made up of social security, pension, medical, and hospital taxes. which have increased largely as a result of the increases in CPP and QPP contributions implemented in 2002. These two categories represent almost the entire net tax increase between 2001 and 2002 for the average Canadian family.