TORONTO — Hiking corporate taxes has been at the top of the agenda for the Occupy movement and Ottawa's official opposition, but a new report says they're actually falling.

The study released Wednesday by KPMG International found Canada's corporate tax rate has dropped by more than 16 per cent over the last 11 years.

Canadian companies are actually paying less than their American counterparts.

On average, Canadian companies pay 28 per cent of their income in federal and provincial tax, well below the 40 per cent paid by American companies.

But Canada's corporate tax rate is higher than Europe's 20 per cent and the OECD average of 26 per cent.

Canadian corporate taxes fell three per cent in 2011, from 31 per cent in 2010.

"Canada's corporate tax rate falls around the middle of the pack among the OECD countries," said Elio Luongo, KPMG's Canadian Managing Partner for Tax.

"But Canada's general corporate tax rate is anticipated to continue to fall in 2012, when the federal tax rate will be 15 per cent, versus 16.5 per cent in 2011."

The Occupy movement and NDP opposition parties in Ottawa and Ontario have pressed for higher corporate taxes to help finance needed social programs during an era of restraint.

Brian Topp, the perceived frontrunner in the NDP leadership race, wants his party to make corporate tax hikes and higher income taxes for high-income earners a key plank in its next election campaign platform.

Calling for higher corporate taxes is a staple of NDP election platforms and is relatively safe ground politically. Even the Liberals, during last spring's federal campaign, promised to roll back a 1.5-percentage point reduction in the corporate tax rate, which took effect last Jan. 1, and to defer another 1.5-point reduction planned for next year.

U.S. President Barack Obama last month proposed $1.5 trillion in new taxes aimed primarily at the wealthy, including setting a minimum tax on those making $1 million or more in annual income. The latter measure has been dubbed the "Buffett rule," after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has railed against the fact he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.

The yawning gap between rich and poor has also been at the root of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, which spawned protests last week in Canada and around the world.

Statistics Canada says the top one per cent of Canadian earners took home 11 per cent of total income in 2009.

The KPMG survey --which compared corporate and indirect tax rates from more than 125 countries -- shows the world's average corporate income tax rate has fallen in each of the past 11 years, from 29 per cent in 2000 to 23 per cent in 2011.

However, the financial services company also said the year-over-year corporate tax rate cuts around the world have become much smaller.

Instead, it said, many countries are turning to raising value-added tax and goods and services taxes -- with Canada being the notable exception as it lowered its federal GST rate.