VICTORIA — British Columbia is “dead last” among provinces when it comes to the gap between the highest income earners and the lowest, according to a report by BC Stats.

The report highlights growing inequality in B.C. and across Canada, adding the issue recently came to a head in the form of the Occupy movement.

“In a free market society like Canada there will always be some that are better off than others, but the challenge is figuring out how large a gap between the highest earners and lowest earners should be considered acceptable,” stated the report, entitled Mind the Gap.

“Given the size and vehemence of the Occupy protests, one would suspect that the current income gap is too large.”

The report said that in 2009, the lowest 20 per cent of British Columbians earned just 7.7 per cent of what the top 20 per cent earned, before transfers and taxes.

“Compared to other provinces, B.C. ranked dead last in 2009, with the largest gap between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent of income earners,” said the report.

After transfers and taxes, the percentage improved, said the report, but the lowest 20 per cent were still making only 16.5 per cent of what the top 20 per cent were making.

The report said the Canadian average was 18.4 per cent for that year, adding that in the 1990s the B.C. number was closer to 22 per cent.

The report also cited a second measure of inequality, which found B.C. to have the second-highest level of income inequality, just behind Alberta.

New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix has made inequality a key theme for his party, and on Tuesday said the report shows the B.C. Liberal government is making the problem worse.

“We have to address it in a number of ways, but primarily by ensuring that people have the opportunity to succeed in life and to lift themselves up,” he said. “I think that’s where the current government’s favouritism toward powerful existing interests is not good for our economy.”

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon took issue with Dix, adding the argument over the economy is “very important for British Columbians to understand.”

“We’ve spent the last 10 years working hard to bring back high-paying jobs to British Columbia,” he said of the Liberal government.

“This goes to the very core of what kind of government the public would like to have,” Falcon added, saying he believes Dix would increase income and corporate taxes if elected premier.

“What we’re saying is we want to have the high-wage jobs in British Columbia and we don’t want to scare them away and chase them away as we did in the 1990s with high taxes.”

The report released by BC Stats does not take sides in the political realm, although it does question the role of tax cuts when it comes to the specific issue of income equality.

“While tax cuts have benefited people of all income levels to some extent, they have had less of a positive effect on the lowest income earners,” said the report.

“This is because these lower-income individuals pay very few income taxes to begin with and are more reliant on the benefits and services that are paid for with tax revenue.”

jfowlie@vancouversun.com