During another round of Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in Parliament, the subject of Games Tax Relief for interactive developers was once again broached with Prime Minister David Cameron (pictured).
This time around it was Labour MP Jim McGovern who asked about the tax breaks. Cameron responded that the government is looking into simplifying the corporation tax regime to bring it down to 24%, which would make Britain “one of the best places in the world to do business.”
In response to a similar question about tax relief posed during last week’s PMQs session, Cameron said while it was a “difficult” decision to eliminate tax relief for developers, the measure was “not particularly successful or targeted,” and “had to go.” PMQs sessions take place every Wednesday.
Trade association TIGA welcomed the subject coming up again, but stated that the Prime Minister’s “negative response” to McGovern’s inquiry was “disappointing.” TIGA chief Dr. Richard Wilson called lower tax rates for corporations “welcome,” but added, “…they do little to help smaller technology businesses which may not always be in profit.”
TIGA also released numbers that showed a drop in employment numbers for the UK interactive sector. The group reported that, between July 2008 and September 2010, there was a nine percent drop in the number of people working in the UK games development field.
