UK govt cancels plans for video game tax relief
TIGA's years-long campaign to bring tax relief to the UK video game industry has come to a rather disappointing conclusion. Chancellor George Osbourne (pictured above) revealed the nation's budget plans earlier today during a speech at Westminster, announcing that "planned tax relief for the video games industry will be canceled." According to TIGA CEO Richard Wilson, this surprising omission flies in the face of "pre-election pledges made by the Conservative Party and by the Liberal Democrats to support and introduce Games Tax Relief."
GamesIndustry.biz points out that Osbourne's proposed budget still benefits smaller, start-up developers in select parts of England, who will receive exemptions for £5,000 (about $7,400) of National Insurance contributions for each of their first 10 new hires; though this doesn't come close to the sweeping tax reform promised to the UK games industry just a little over a month ago.
[Image credit: Auto Express]
