TAX season is in full swing.

TEXT/ILLUSTRATION: LARRY HAVERKAMP AND MAROO

By today, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) expects 50 per cent of taxpayers to have filed their taxes.

They are due on 18 Apr if you file via Internet - as 90 per cent are expected to do this year.

When you pay taxes, do you know where the money goes? You'll be surprised. Here are some amazing tax facts that Iras was good enough to tell me about.

The Government budget is about $40 billion this year. That's relatively cheap since our GDP is about $240 billion. It means about $1 out of $6 - around 16 per cent - goes to run the Government.

In contrast, this year's US government budget is US$4 trillion ($6 trillion) out of a GDP of US$14trillion. It comes to 29 per cent and that is just the national government. States and cities add even more.

Only about half of all taxpayers actually pay taxes. Iras told me it issued returns to 1.5 million taxpayers but only 850,000 - 57 per cent - had to pay any taxes last year. The rest - 43 per cent - had enough reliefs to fall beneath the $22,000 annual income threshold to pay taxes.

About three quarters of the $40 billion budget comes from tax collections through Iras. Most of the rest comes from other taxes like on cigarettes and liquor, as well as foreign worker and maid levies.

What do you think is the Government's biggest source of income?

It is company taxes which brought in $9.3 billion last year. It is almost one quarter of all taxes collected and the bulk of it - $7.5 billion - comes from the big boys: firms which earned more than $5 million last year.

Next was GST. It brought in $6 billion. In third place were individual income taxes at $4.5 billion, followed by stamp duties at $3.7 billion.

In fifth place was property tax at $2.1 billion. Almost all comes from residential, commercial and industrial buildings. HDB property tax accounts for just 4 per cent of the total.

Do you want to bet on sixth place? Yes, it is gambling duties and that is a story in itself.

Have you ever wondered what is the biggest tax break in Singapore? We take it for granted and few of us even think of it as tax relief. It is CPF.

Money coming in and going out of our CPF accounts is tax-free. That is unusual because retirement accounts in most countries are only 'tax deferred'. It means money is tax-free going in, but you must pay taxes when you withdraw it at retirement.

CPF reliefs came to $6 billion last year, which is about $6,000 per household.

The next biggest is child relief, amounting to $1.6 billion. Did you know the amount has been doubled this year? It's now $4,000 per child.

Following that is earned income relief, averaging $1,000 per household. It totalled $1 billion and is given automatically.

Gambling can be taxing

Singapore Pools and the Turf Club brought in a whopping $1.7billion last year.

Which game do you think is the biggest revenue earner? You're right. It is 4-D, which took in just over $1 billion.

In distant second place is Toto with a take of $150 million, followed by 'horses running in circles around a racetrack' at $100 million.

As for club gambling, fruit slot machines brought in surprisingly high tax revenues of $335 million. In 1952, the tax rate was set at 30 per cent of gross takings and it hasn't changed since then.

Other Singapore Pools games - like 4D - are taxed at a whopping 25 per cent of takings. It helps raise tax revenues, which means other taxes can be lower.

But it is expensive for gamblers and gives you an idea of how bad the odds are.

It is almost enough to make you swear off gambling.  Back to Columnists