Singapore’s tax revenues rise 17% to S$80.3 billion in FY23/24 due to “strong economic and wage growth”

Singapore’s tax revenue rose 17 percent to 80.3 billion Singapore dollars in the 2023/2024 fiscal year, reflecting strong economic growth and nominal wage growth in 2022, according to tax officials on Wednesday (4 September).

According to the annual report of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), tax revenues increased in most categories.

Corporate tax revenue rose 25.6 percent to S$29 million on strong corporate earnings, Iras said. This is the largest share of Iras’ tax revenue, accounting for more than a third.

Income tax revenue rose by 12.9 percent, or S$2 billion, to S$17.5 million, which the agency said was due to higher wages and an increase in the number of taxpayers.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue increased 17.7 percent to S$16.6 billion, driven by higher consumer spending and a one percentage point increase in the GST rate.

Property tax revenue increased 15.7 percent to S$5.9 billion, but stamp duty revenue declined by about 0.3 percent, or over S$100 million, due to lower property transaction volumes.

Total tax revenue accounted for about 77.6 percent of the government’s operating revenue and 11.9 percent of Singapore’s gross domestic product, Iras said.

“The taxes collected are used to fund essential services for our community, grow our economy, improve our living conditions and support social development programmes that improve the lives of Singaporeans,” said Iras.

In addition to collecting taxes, the authority also said it had processed payouts of almost 2.3 billion Singapore dollars to over 131,000 companies, thereby supporting them and their employees.

These are grants from programs such as the Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, the Senior Employment Credit and the Jobs Growth Incentive.