UK developer trade association TIGA said today that it’s to step up its campaign to persuade the Government to introduce tax breaks for domestic game makers ahead of the Budget on March 23.
Following a Sunday Times report that claimed Tory Chancellor George Osborne is “considering the introduction of tax breaks for the computer games industry as an eye-catching measure to put in his budget”, TIGA CEO Richard Wilson said:
“Given the economic contraction in the last quarter of 2010, we need a Budget for growth in March. The UK video games industry can play a part in rebalancing the UK economy away from an over-dependence upon financial services and the public sector.
“The UK game development sector provides high skilled employment, is R&D intensive and is an export oriented industry. It is just the kind of sector that the Government should be supporting if it is serious about strengthening the economic recovery.”
Wilson added. “TIGA’s Games Tax Relief makes economic sense. We anticipate over five years that Games Tax Relief would create or safeguard 9,519 direct and indirect jobs (including 3,366 jobs in the games industry), £431 million investment in development expenditure, £394 million in tax receipts to HM Treasury, at a cost of £194 million in tax relief to HM Treasury. In other words, TIGA’s Games Tax Relief more than pays for itself.
“We urge game developers and publishers to join TIGA and to actively support our campaign in the weeks leading up to the Budget.”
Chancellor Osborne scrapped plans to implement UK tax breaks for games when the Coalition Government came into power last year.
Wilson told CVG at the time that the act was “a betrayal” of a pre-election promise.
Source: Tom Ivan
