Canada tax brackets, 2000

The federal rates for 2000

Three brackets, applied in slices. The first slice of taxable income is taxed at the lowest rate, the next slice at the next, and so on. Reaching the top bracket never meant the whole income was taxed at the top rate.

17% — on the first $30,004

25% — from $30,004 to $60,009

29% — on everything above $60,009

The top rate of 29% started at $60,009 that year. Everyone in Canada paid these rates, whichever province they lived in — the federal half of an income tax bill does not vary by province, only the provincial half does.

How much you could earn tax-free in 2000

In 2000 the federal basic personal amount was $7,231. That is the figure behind "how much can you earn before paying tax", and for federal tax the answer that year was exactly that: $7,231.

It works as a non-refundable credit at the lowest rate, not as a bracket taxed at zero. $7,231 at 17% is $1,229 of tax cancelled — and because the first bracket is also taxed at 17%, the credit exactly wipes out the tax on the first $7,231 of income. The arithmetic lands in the same place as a zero-rate band, which is why people describe it that way, but it is not one: it does not move the brackets above it and it does not change anyone's marginal rate.

One figure, the same for everyone. The means-testing of the basic personal amount — where the amount shrinks as income rises — did not arrive until 2020, so in 2000 a person earning $40,000 and a person earning $400,000 claimed the same $7,231.

Read off Form 5000-R, T1 return, line 300.

And in 2000 that was the only basic personal amount there was. No province or territory set one of its own: each computed its personal credits as a percentage of the federal total instead, so the figure above is the figure that applied everywhere in Canada.

Why there is no provincial personal amount for 2000

Because none existed. In 2000 no province or territory set a basic personal amount of its own, and that is a fact about the tax rather than a gap in this page.

Two different mechanisms produced the same result. The five jurisdictions that already had rates of their own worked their personal credits out as a percentage of line 335 of the federal Schedule 1 — the total of your federal credit amounts — applied at their own lowest rate. Four others charged a percentage of the federal tax itself, which already had the federal amount inside it.

Either way the taxpayer never claimed a provincial figure, because there was none to claim. The first provincial amounts of their own appear in 2001, and the last jurisdiction to set one was Yukon, in 2005 — after which it went back to copying the federal figure, and still does.

So for 2000 the answer to "how much could you earn tax-free" is the federal amount above, and nothing else.

And the provincial and territorial rates for 2000

Your province of residence on 31 December 2000 decided which of these applied — not where you worked, not where you were paid, and not where you lived in January.

Five of them had a scale of their own that year, from the flattest to the steepest at the top:

New Brunswick — 3 brackets, from 9.94% to 16.96% above $59,180. Combined with the federal top rate: 45.96%.

Nova Scotia — 3 brackets, from 9.77% to 16.67% above $59,180. Combined with the federal top rate: 45.67%.

British Columbia — 3 brackets, from 8.4% to 14.35% above $60,009. Combined with the federal top rate: 43.35%.

Manitoba — 3 brackets, from 8% to 13.63% above $59,180. Combined with the federal top rate: 42.63%.

Ontario — 3 brackets, from 6.37% to 11.16% above $60,009. Combined with the federal top rate: 40.16%.

So the spread between the two ends of the country was 5.8% of every dollar at the top of the scale — New Brunswick at 45.96% against Ontario at 40.16%.

And four of them are missing from that list because they had no scale. 2000 is the last year of the older system, in which a province did not set rates at all: it charged a percentage of the federal tax you had already worked out. Alberta took 44% of it, plus a flat 0.5% on taxable income; Newfoundland and Labrador took 62% of it; Prince Edward Island took 57.5% of it; Saskatchewan took 48% of it, plus a flat 1.5% on taxable income.

The difference is not cosmetic. Under that system a province could not choose its own progressivity — Ottawa's bracket shape was its bracket shape, scaled up or down by one number. All four moved to rates of their own the following year, which is why 2000 is the only page here that has to explain two systems at once.

Three of the twelve are not on this page at all, and that is an obstacle rather than a decision. The Canada Revenue Agency no longer hosts Form 428 for Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon for 2000, and the Internet Archive has no copy of any of them. The rates existed; the document that would let anyone read them off does not. Saying so is more honest than filling the gap by interpolating from the years either side, which is what the numbers would look like if they were here.

Quebec is not in that list either, and its absence is not an oversight. The Canada Revenue Agency does not publish Quebec's rates in this table; it links to a Revenu Québec document instead, because Quebec administers its own income tax. So the count runs three ways: nine jurisdictions on this page, twelve that the CRA publishes, and thirteen that Canada actually has.

The 2000 tax tables in full, one jurisdiction at a time

Alberta, 2000 — no brackets of its own: 44% of your federal tax, plus a flat 0.5% of taxable income.

British Columbia, 2000 — 3 brackets:

8.4% — on the first $30,004

12.4% — from $30,004 to $60,009

14.35% — on everything above $60,009

Manitoba, 2000 — 3 brackets:

8% — on the first $29,590

12.22% — from $29,590 to $59,180

13.63% — on everything above $59,180

New Brunswick, 2000 — 3 brackets:

9.94% — on the first $29,590

15.21% — from $29,590 to $59,180

16.96% — on everything above $59,180

Newfoundland and Labrador, 2000 — no brackets of its own: 62% of your federal tax.

Nova Scotia, 2000 — 3 brackets:

9.77% — on the first $29,590

14.95% — from $29,590 to $59,180

16.67% — on everything above $59,180

Ontario, 2000 — 3 brackets:

6.37% — on the first $30,004

9.62% — from $30,004 to $60,009

11.16% — on everything above $60,009

Prince Edward Island, 2000 — no brackets of its own: 57.5% of your federal tax.

Saskatchewan, 2000 — no brackets of its own: 48% of your federal tax, plus a flat 1.5% of taxable income.

Why the tables start here

2000 is where this silo begins, and the reason is not that older figures are hard to find. It is that 2000 is the year the Canadian income tax changed shape. Before it, a province did not publish brackets because it did not have any: it charged a percentage of your federal tax, and its own Form 428 was a single multiplication. A 1999 page would be a federal table and a column of percentages, which is a different document about a different tax — and one this site has not read.

2000 itself is the seam. Five jurisdictions had already moved to rates of their own; four had not, and were still charging a share of the federal bill. Both appear on this page, because both were true that year.

Federally it is the last year of the old shape too: three brackets, topping out at 29% above $60,009. The following year split that top band and cut both lower rates, and the 33% bracket most Canadians now think of as permanent did not arrive until 2016.

What this page deliberately will not do

It will not work out what you owed in 2000, and the reason is worth more than a calculator would be.

A tax bill is not the brackets. It is the brackets minus the basic personal amount, minus the provincial credits, plus Ontario's surtax where it applies, alongside CPP and EI with their own ceilings — and every one of those figures was different in 2000 from what it is now. The CRA's rate table carries none of them.

So a calculator built on this page would take the one piece of 2000 that is published, pair it with 2026 values for everything else, and produce a number that looks authoritative and is wrong. That is a worse outcome than no number at all, and it is the commonest way historical tax pages mislead.

What the table is genuinely good for: checking a rate you half-remember, seeing which bracket a figure fell into, and comparing 2000 with the year before or after. For an actual figure, the 2026 calculator has every piece it needs — basic amounts, surtax, contributions and all.

And if you are reassessing a 2000 return, the authority is your own notice of assessment and the CRA, not this page or any other. 24 years on, the figures here are a reference, not a filing.

The years either side

The federal top rate across every year on this site, so you can see where 2000 sits:

2000 — 3 brackets, top rate 29% above $60,009 ← this page.

2001 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $100,000.

2002 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $103,000.

2003 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $104,648.

2004 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $113,804.

2005 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $115,739.

2006 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $118,285.

2007 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $120,887.

2008 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $123,184.

2009 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $126,264.

2010 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $127,021.

2011 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $128,800.

2012 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $132,406.

2013 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $135,054.

2014 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $136,270.

2015 — 4 brackets, top rate 29% above $138,586.

2016 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $200,000.

2017 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $202,800.

2018 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $205,842.

2019 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $210,371.

2020 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $214,368.

2021 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $216,511.

2022 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $221,708.

2023 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $235,675.

2024 — 5 brackets, top rate 33% above $246,752.

Read down that list and the federal top rate is 29% for sixteen straight years and 33% for the nine after it. The thresholds, meanwhile, moved every single year — the point at which the top rate begins rose from $60,009 in 2000 to $246,752 in 2024. Almost all of that is indexation doing its work rather than a government doing anything.

Next to this one: 2001. And the current year, in full, at 2026 tax brackets.

Where the 2000 figures came from

CRA — All years tax rates and income brackets, federal and provincial or territorial, 2015 onward — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/tax-rates-brackets/all-years.html

Every rate and threshold on this page was taken from that table and checked for internal consistency before publication: each bracket's ceiling has to be the next one's floor, rates have to rise, and the first bracket has to start at zero. Any table that failed those checks would not be here.

The basic personal amount comes from different documents again, because the CRA publishes it nowhere near the rate table:

CRA — Income Tax Folio S1-F4-C1, Basic Personal and Dependant Tax Credits, indexation amounts table (2015 and 2016) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/technical-information/income-tax/income-tax-folios-index/series-1-individuals/series-1-individuals-1/income-tax-folio-s1-f4-c1-basic-personal-dependant-tax-credits.html

CRA — Form 5000-S1, Schedule 1 Federal Tax, and each province's Form 428, for the 2013 and 2014 brackets and amounts, read from the PDFs in layout mode — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/tax-packages-years.html

CRA — Form 5000-S1, Schedule 1 Federal Tax, line 300 (2017 and 2018 editions) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5000-s1/5000-s1-18e.pdf

CRA — Form 5000-R, Income Tax and Benefit Return, line 30000 (2019 to 2022 editions) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/cra-arc/formspubs/pbg/5000-r/5000-r-22e.pdf

CRA — Indexation adjustment for personal income tax and benefit amounts, non-refundable tax credits (2023 and 2024) — read 2026-09-21. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/frequently-asked-questions-individuals/adjustment-personal-income-tax-benefit-amounts.html

CRA — Form 428 for each province and territory, one per year (2015 to 2020), and T4032 Payroll Deductions Tables, previous-year editions (2021 to 2024) — read 2026-09-21. For 2000 the figures come from each province's own Form 428 for 2000, read from the PDF. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/tax-packages-years.html

And what this does not cover:

— Quebec is not here. The CRA does not publish Quebec rates in this table — it links to a Revenu Québec document instead — so these pages cover twelve jurisdictions rather than thirteen, and say so rather than quietly listing twelve and calling it Canada.

— No tax is calculated on these pages, and that is deliberate. The basic personal amount, Ontario's surtax, the provincial credits, CPP and EI all change from year to year as well, and none of them is in this table. A figure worked out from the brackets alone would be wrong, and confidently wrong is the worst kind.

— Rates and thresholds are as published for the tax year, not as they may later have been amended. Where a province legislated a change part-way through a year, the CRA table shows the rate that applied to the return for that year.

— For tax years before 2015 there is no single CRA table: the rates live inside each year's income tax package, one form per province per year. Those forms were downloaded and read individually — the federal Schedule 1 and every provincial Form 428 back to 2000 — and validated the same way as the later years. Two gaps survived that work and are named rather than filled: the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have no 2000 or 2002 Form 428 on canada.ca and no copy in the Internet Archive, so those three jurisdictions are absent from those two years and the pages say which.

— In 2000 four provinces had no tax brackets at all. Alberta, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan still charged a percentage of the federal tax you had already calculated rather than setting rates of their own, so their rows in the 2000 table give that percentage instead of a scale. By 2001 all four had moved to rates of their own. This is a fact about the tax, not a hole in the data.

Questions

What were the tax brackets in Canada in 2000?

Federally, three: 17% on the first $30,004; 25% from $30,004 to $60,009; 29% above $60,009. Each province and territory then applied its own scale on top, and your province of residence on 31 December 2000 decided which.

What was the highest tax rate in Canada in 2000?

The federal top rate was 29% above $60,009. Combined with the provincial top rate the highest was New Brunswick at 45.96% and the lowest Ontario at 40.16%.

What were the Ontario tax brackets for 2000?

Three of them: 6.37%, 9.62%, 11.16%, the top one starting at $60,009. Ontario also charged a surtax on its own provincial tax that year, which is not in the CRA's rate table and therefore not on this page.

Can I use this to work out what I owed in 2000?

Not in full. The federal side is closer than it was — the brackets and the basic personal amount of $7,231 are both here — but the provincial credits, Ontario's surtax and the CPP and EI ceilings for 2000 are not, and your province's own basic personal amount is not either. Use this to check a rate or a threshold, not to produce a bill. For a real calculation use the 2026 calculator, which has every piece.

How much could you earn tax-free in 2000?

$7,231 federally — the same figure whatever you earned, since the amount was not means-tested until 2020. It is a non-refundable credit at 17% rather than a zero-rate band, which comes to the same thing on that first slice of income. And in that year no province or territory added one of its own: each worked its personal credits out as a percentage of the federal total instead, so that figure was the whole of it.

Why is Quebec missing from the 2000 table?

Because the Canada Revenue Agency does not publish it. Quebec administers its own income tax, and the CRA's all-years table links to a Revenu Québec document rather than listing Quebec rates. This page covers nine jurisdictions, not the twelve the CRA publishes: Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon are missing too, because their Form 428 for 2000 no longer exists anywhere — which this page says rather than presenting a partial list as if it were all of Canada.