The entire budget was strewn with cuts and savings including a rise in VAT (which would see a small rise in game prices) and huge drop in welfare funding. With such huge cuts in public spending, videogame relief will not be a priority for the Government, which has aimed to create a “fairer” budget.

Before the election, all three parties had spoken about videogame tax breaks, however only the Labour party had actually listed the measure in its manifesto. Industry group ELSPA had previously asked the Conservative party to confirm its spoken support of tax relief to paper, something which they did not do. Before the election, the Liberal Democrats had called for a tax relief to be brought in “as soon as possible” if they got in, however the coalition Government has had to accept compromises.

ELSPA director Michael Rawlinson has said:

Bearing in mind the pre-election commitment towards tax breaks made by the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats we are extremely disappointed by the outcome of today’s Budget.

Our industry will be rightly puzzled as to how tax breaks can be lauded before an election, only to be seen as ‘poorly targeted’ and scrapped just six weeks later.

Update: TIGA’s CEO Richard Wilson has said that both parties have “broken pre-election pledges” to support tax relief. He said that without tax relief “the UK will forfeit millions of pounds in inward investment, jobs will be lost and we will cease to be a leading developer of video games.”

TIGA has insisted that they will “will continue to lead the campaign for Games Tax Relief.”

Image: The Guardian

News Tags: government, industry, libcon, Politics, tax breaks, tax cuts, tax relief

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