UK games industry group Tiga has called on Brown’s government to measure the effectiveness of its tax incentive schemes against other G20 nations.

The G20 represents the consortium of leading nations across the globe. The group consists of presidents, chancellors and prime ministers from the likes of North America, China, India, Canada and the UK.

Yesterday members of the group convened in London to decide on global measures to tackle the recession, yet Tiga CEO Richard Wilson believes that the UK should also be using the G20 as a means to compare its tax policies and keep them competitive.

“The Government needs to benchmark the effectiveness of the UK’s overall tax system in terms of, for example, promoting business growth, investment and job creation in comparison to those that operate in the G-20,” he said.

“If the Government is serious about supporting innovation in businesses then it must measure the effectiveness of tax incentives, such as the R&D tax credit, that are available to the video games industry in the UK compared to those of other countries. The UK tax system does not operate in a vacuum.”

Tiga is seeking fast action from the UK government as the nation’s games industry workforce shrinks, as one third of British developers admit to having problems with the tax burden, and as the entire development sector is in danger of falling to fifth in global rankings.

“Governments around the world are competing to establish favourable tax regimes in order to attract businesses to their jurisdictions and to promote economic growth,” added Wilson.

“Unless the Government compares the impact of its tax measures in relation to those of other countries, it will be impossible to tell whether it is assisting particular economic sectors as well as it could do.”