Comic Book UK, the representative body for the UK’s comic book industry, has responded to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement and the revised Office for Budget Responsibility growth projections.
Mark Fuller, Chief Executive of Comic Book UK, said
“The OBR figures published today are a sharp reminder of why the Government needs to back industries that have the most growth potential. The UK comics industry is a prime example of where relatively small measures can have a dramatic impact.
“Bringing just one new monthly anthology comic to market creates hundreds of paid commissions for freelance creatives, exports a new product to a huge global audience and offers a platform to develop new properties that can be licensed into other media.
“UK comic companies are primed to create dozens of new titles like this but the upfront costs are prohibitive, particularly to smaller, independent publishers. Tax reliefs of the kind that have driven growth in the film and video game industries could make a huge difference. We encourage the Chancellor to look seriously at the potential for expanding the existing creative industries tax reliefs to cover comics in this Autumn’s budget.”
Over the coming months Comic Book UK will work with partners across the wider creative industries and continue constructive dialogue with the Government to develop fully detailed proposals for the extension of creative industries tax relief to comics.
About existing creative industry tax reliefs
Creative industry corporation tax reliefs and expenditure credits are already in place for companies directly involved in the production and development of outputs including video games, high end television, films, animation and theatrical productions. Full details available here
Evaluations of the existing creative industries tax reliefs have found that they have made the UK a more attractive destination for investment in productions and ‘allowed productions to happen that otherwise would not have happened at all.’
Further details on the impact of existing creative industries tax reliefs are available here
