Wilson urges the industry to remain positive and come out fighting
Tiga CEO Richard Wilson has fired back at suggestions that the UK game industry has failed to secure backing from Westminster on development tax breaks.
During last year’s pre-Budget report, the UK government flung tax break proposals off the table despite warming relations with the development community. Some industry figures suggest that there’s now little reason to fight on.
Tiga firmly disagrees, however. In an interview with Develop, Wilson said that the industry should “never confuse a setback with a final defeat”, listing the progress made in the last twelve months due to the group waging a “relentless campaign”.
Said Wilson: “Last year, the video games sector was invited in a Government policy paper, Digital Britain, to present a case to change UK tax policy. This was a highly unusual invitation.
“The department of Culture, Media and Sport and the department for Business, Innovation and Skills are both committed to work with the industry to collect and review the evidence for a tax break for games production. This was, and remains, a breakthrough for us.
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“The British game industry needs to maintain the campaign and keep the pressure on the government and on the opposition parties if we are to achieve beneficial tax reform to help the sector."
Pay tax at the same rates as the rest of us you parasites...
They do pay tax at the same rate as everybody else in the UK. They're paying a lot more tax than Dev Companies in Canada, or Singapore for that matter. That's the point. Games Dev is totally global, with a highly mobile workforce and the UK industry is competing on unequal footing.
You could see the problem like a free trade situation. Free Trade agreements according to the Friedmen school of thought will stimulate competition, increase productivity and benefit exconomic growth. Import taxes and duties stifle this competition, reduce trade and damage the economy. Tax breaks given to companies in Canada could have an effect much like an import tax. Protectionism is anathaema to a modern economist. The call for tax breaks here is really an antiquated response by the school of thought, but we can't get Canada to drop their tax breaks, they're too popular! Normally this kind of problem is solved with a free trade agreement which came in to being when it was recognised this kind of tarrif/tax cold war doesn't benefit anybody in the end.
