Gamertell

Canada has become a haven for European game developers who are looking for a tax reprieve.  The tax incentives being offered to game developers in Canada have ensured that the country gets a bigger chunk of the burgeoning videogame business while countries like Britain and France watch the exodus of game developers. Britain has decided that its time to take the war to Canada. And, no, Britain is not going to offer greater relaxation in taxes to the videogame industry, but it will challenge the very legality of the tax incentives on offer in Canada.

The UK Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport has convinced the European Commission to launch an inquest into Canada’s trade practices vis-à-vis the game industry. The inquiry will establish whether Canada’s tax relaxations to the gaming industry are in compliance with principles laid out by the World Trade Organization.

“The U.K. government is concerned that state aid offered to computer games companies by a number of federal institutions in Canada may not be compatible with World Trade Organization principles,” the ministries’ spokesperson told Canwest News Service.

At one end, the politicos want to regulate video games and project them as a menace that can devour today’s youth but, at the other end, they want to squeeze every penny out of this chimera of their’s that they so love to abhor.

Read [Canada]

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