The waivers, worth a total of $2,164,000, were detailed in the first tax expenditure statement the territory government has released, last month.

While the government has refused to identify the businesses given the waivers, the report claims they were approved as part of "wider measures to facilitate investment and job creation in the territory".

It was part of some $2.205 million of waivers Mr Barr, as Treasurer, approved in 2015-16, including nine waivers from general rates debt totalling $22,000 and five land tax waivers worth a total of $19,000.

The statement details the amount of waivers Mr Barr approved that year, as well as the revenue foregone under a host of exemptions, rebates and concession schemes the government operates.

While the government had previously reported aggregate figures in annual financial statements, which came to $268,000 for 27 debt waivers in 2014-15, the 2015-16 statement provides greater detail than previously reported.

It also showed businesses in the ACT were by far the biggest beneficiaries of all territory government tax exemptions, with government coffers foregoing $145 million worth of payroll tax, due to the tax free threshold.

But that figure is likely to grow, as it records the final year of a tax-free threshold in the ACT of $1.85 million, before the 2016-17 budget raised the threshold to $2 million, keeping the territory's threshold the highest in the country.

Of $260.8 million in foregone revenue in 2015-16, $19.1 million was foregone due to payroll tax exemptions for the charities sector and $17.8 foregone under the exemption for non-government schools.

The top five most costly exemptions or concessions schemes in 2015-16 in the ACT were payroll tax , at $188 million, stamp duty concessions, at $32.6 million, general rates concessions at $17.5 million, car registration for pensioners, at $8.9 million, and car duties, at $7.2 million.

Of the $32.6 million in concessions from stamp duty, $14 million in revenue was foregone through the Mr Fluffy loose-fill asbestos insulation buyback concession scheme, and $11.7 million through teh home buyer concession scheme.

The statement also showed the biggest exemption from the government's controversial lease variation charge - which levies developers who change land uses to allow more dwellings per block - was from the government's 2014 "economic stimulus" 25 per cent remission, at $1.229 million.

The next largest LVC remission was also under that scheme, but for "sustainable or adaptable building design", at $1.038 million, out of a total of $3.119 million in LVC remissions in 2015-16.

A spokesman for Mr Barr said the statement was the first time ACT Treasury had developed the methodology for undertaking the analysis, and the government intended to update it annually.

"However, since this analysis has not previously been undertaken there is no comparable data available prior to 2015-16," he said.

He said the government would not identify businesses granted waivers from payroll tax due to privacy concerns.