Canada's finance minister insists low- and middle-income families will see two-thirds of the benefits from the Harper government's contentious multi-billion-dollar tableau of family-friendly measures.
By that measure, Joe Oliver is suggesting families with annual incomes as high as $120,000 qualify as middle class.
The Finance Department's own internal breakdown of the distribution of relief from the family package shows 68% of the benefits will go to families that earn as much as $120,000 in 2015.
That family plan, including a controversial $2-billion-per-year income-splitting component, is expected to be a centrepiece of the Tories' re-election campaign when Canadians head to the polls later this year.
It has also become a preferred bull's-eye for their adversaries.
Political opponents have zeroed in on the income-splitting element, calling it an unfair policy that provides no relief for 85% of all Canadian households and provides more benefits to wealthier families.
Looking at the family tax-and-benefit package as a whole, however, the subjective nature of the so-called "middle class" means who exactly stands to benefit — and who does not — remains an open question.
There is no universal definition of the middle class, a term frequently trotted out by politicians as a way to connect with a large group of voters.
Economists prefer to stick to statistical definitions to identify the middle class, such as isolating that 20% of all income earners who land directly in the middle in terms of income.
