Back when I was a kid on the farm there were a lot of discussions about a wealthy few who supposedly ran the country from their large estates.
The general saying was that 56 millionaires ran things by pulling political strings.
My limited research hasn’t been able find any evidence of that claim, except that Conservative Prime Minister R.B. Bennet (1930-35) of Calgary was a millionaire who lived it up while one-quarter of the labour force was unemployed. Many of them were in hard labour work camps.
There is a belief among some academics that extravagant lifestyles by the rich were a cause of the Great Depression in the 1930s with an inequality of wealth as the key.
The rich accounted for one-third of wealth while the poor had no savings at all. Sounds familiar.
Last year the richest 10 per cent in Canada had 66 per cent of the wealth. The bottom 40 per cent had 2.7 per cent of all wealth in Canada.
That led to the question just how many millionaires and billionaires are there in this country and across the globe?
A recent report by The Visual Capitalist lists countries with the most millionaires and billionaires. Canada is rated ninth with 371,200 millionaires and 52 billionaires in U.S. dollars.
If we get 56 billionaires will they run the country ? Just kidding.
Even though federal laws and those in most provinces, except Saskatchewan, limit political contributions by the wealthy, they still have considerable influence through paid lobbyists.
Canada’s millionaire population is equal to one-third of Saskatchewan’s population.
U.S. millionaires lead the pack with 5,492,000 — that’s more than the population of 78 countries and greater than Ireland.
With 862,000 millionaires China ranks second, followed by Germany, 806,100; Japan, 754,800; United Kingdom, 602,500; France, 506,000; Switzerland, 427,700; Australia, 383,300; and then Canada.
A 2023 study by investment banker Credit Suisse showed more millionaires than the Visual Capitalist but rankings were the same.
Just under one per cent of Canada’s population are millionaires.
When it comes to billionaires the United States leads with 788, followed by China, 305; Germany, 82, United Kingdom, 75, France 55; Canada, 52; and Australia, 48.
In 2021 the top one per cent of income earners paid 22.5 per cent of all income taxes and had 10.4 per cent of Canada’s income.
The top 10 per cent paid 54.4 per cent of all income taxes and had 34.4 per cent of all income.
Interesting. That explains the protests when capital gains over $250,000 were taxed at a higher rate.
One more comparison. A 2022 study by Advisorsavvy indicated the average net worth of Canadian millionaires was $9.2 million while the average Canadian family’s net worth was $329,000 — about one-30th of a millionaire.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
