The family home has eclipsed superannuation as Australia's biggest tax break, with new figures showing the capital gains tax exemption on family homes cost the budget a record $61.5 billion in 2016-17, well in excess of the $33 billion lost to superannuation tax concessions.

The $61 billion is made up of $27.5 billion the government believes it would have got if it taxed profits made on the sale of family homes at the present capital gains tax rate, plus an extra $34 billion it would have got if the capital gains tax rate were the same as the marginal tax rate instead of being discounted by 50 per cent.

Treasury's annual Tax Expenditures Statement, required as part of the charter of budget honesty and released quietly on Monday afternoon, identifies 25 tax breaks each costing more than $1 billion, which between them cost close to $150 billion.

If abolished, they would close the budget deficit four times over.