The report claims that “Home Office insiders revealed that ministers are considering giving tax breaks if the Government insists that they install ‘black boxes’ in their servers to monitor internet traffic.” It is suggested that this would take the form of writing off the cost of installing a so-called ‘black box’ against tax.
The government has already said that it is considering the provision of grants towards the cost of installation.
However, Simon Moores, Chairman of the ASP Community and an opponent of the Bill described the tax break as “a sticking plaster.” He is quoted by Silicon.com as saying: “Show me an ISP that is making a profit. You can’t use a tax break against a loss. When the government talks about a tax break they’re talking about the next financial year. So that means an ISP could wait up to two years for a potential tax break.”