7 One-Wage Family

Calculating take home pay for your one adult wage earner (all figures shown here are based on Nova Scotia in 2021):

$12.95 x 40 hours/weekly = $518 x 52 weeks = $26, 936 (annual income, one adult)

Subtract: $6408.07 (NS tax rate: 8.79% plus Federal tax rate: 15% = 23.79% total tax rate)

Take home pay: $20,527.93 /12 months = $1710.66 monthly take home after taxes, one adult

Add: $1275.00 Child Tax Benefit (this is the maximum amount of CTB for one year, beginning in July, 2022, for one child under six and one child over six, and that annual total is divided by twelve months.

Total: $2985.66 = monthly household income, one adult working full-time, minimum wage, with two children, one over age six, one under age six.

This new amount of $2985.66 represents a monthly loss of income for this family of $1710.66. Take a look back at your Budget Exercise, and discuss with your working group how you are going to compensate for the loss of this income.

i) What kinds of choices will this single parent need to make?

There are several other companion exercises that you can do after the Budget Exercise has been completed: Grocery Shopping on a Budget; your 24/7 Schedule; and Back to School Shopping.