Tiga praises Tories’ tax proposals

UK independent developer association Tiga has praised proposals put forward by Government opposition party the Conservatives yesterday for lower tax on small and medium-sized businesses.

But the organisation warned that the Tories’ plans to promote training were ‘unnecessarily restrictive’. The Conservative Party’s plans for business were set out in the policy document Keep Britain Working, published today.

The Conservative comments struck a chord with Tiga’s campaign for a tax break for games developers.

“The UK games development sector is competing on an uneven playing field. Our competitors in Australia, Canada, France and many states within the USA benefit from a tax break for games production. A tax break for games production similar to that operating in France would enable the UK games development sector to create more jobs and plough significant investment into the industry," said Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga.

“In the meantime, measures to cut the tax burden on business in general and on games developers in particular, are welcome. The Conservatives’ proposals to enable SMEs to delay their quarterly VAT payments for up to six months, to reduce employers’ national insurance contributions by one per cent for up to six months (for those businesses with fewer than five employees), to cut corporation tax from 28p to 25p and to reverse the planned increase in the small companies’ rate from 20p to 22p are encouraging. Over time, UK businesses and developers will flourish best in a low tax environment. We hope that the Government will take steps in this direction in the forthcoming Pre-Budget Report.

“However, the Conservative’s focus on boosting apprenticeships is too restrictive. The apprenticeship model is not ideal for every sector of the UK economy. Games developers need more graduates, particularly in computer science, mathematics and physics. Many games developers already employ highly qualified teams. Their current and future training requirements will not typically be met by embarking on apprenticeships. There may also be good vocational courses and training programmes other than apprenticeships that would help game developers and improve the skills of their workforce.”