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Government urged to do right thing and reverse ‘family farm tax’

01 Nov 2024 4 minute read
Farmer Arwyn Efans at his Pendre Fawr Farm, Melin Y Wig

Angry farmers left reeling from Labour’s Budget are calling on the Government to quickly reverse what they are describing as an “awful” family farm tax.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said Britain’s farmers and growers will take part in a mass lobby of their MPs following the plans outlined on Wednesday.

According to Budget papers, from April 2026 farmers will be able to claim a 100% relief from inheritance tax on the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business assets, falling to 50% beyond that.

“Fairer”

The Government is “restricting the generosity of agricultural relief” in a bid to make the inheritance tax system “fairer”.It will also put almost £600 million towards flood defences and farm schemes in 2024/25, but warned “it is necessary to review these plans” for future years.NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers have been left reeling from the changes announced in the Budget which demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the British farming sector is shaped and managed.”

He said the current plans to change Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) “need to be overturned and fast”.

Mr Bradshaw added: “Farmers are rightly angry and concerned about their future and for the future of their family farms, having been reassured by minsters in the lead up to the budget that APR and BPR changes were not on the table.

“The Treasury’s figures which claim this will only affect one in four British farms are misleading.

“The £1 million cap to APR shows how little this Government understands the sector. Very few viable farms would be worth under £1 million, but lots of smallholdings and houses with a few acres let for grazing might be.

“The asset value of genuine food-producing farms will be high, given the size they need to be to remain viable businesses; but that’s the value of the asset, it doesn’t reflect its profitability which is often, and increasingly so, very low.

“It’s clear the Government does not understand that family farms are not only small farms, and that just because a farm is an asset it doesn’t mean those who work it are wealthy.

“I have said, every penny the Chancellor saves from this will come directly from the next generation having to break up their family farm. It simply mustn’t happen.

“MPs need to understand the consequences of these actions which is why we are mobilising our members for a mass lobby in the coming weeks.

“British farmers will ask their MPs to look them in the eye and tell them whether they support this.

“There’s still time for the government to accept they’ve got this wrong, and my message to ministers is that they should do the right thing and reverse this awful Family Farm Tax.”

“Death knell”

The Conservative Party has claimed farmers will have to stump up hundreds of thousands of pounds under Labour’s inheritance tax plans.Shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake warned Labour MPs who intend to have a pint in a local pub and a chat with farmers this weekend to “think again”, while Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, described the Budget as a “full-frontal financial attack on our farmers”.Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesman, had previously criticised changes to the agricultural property relief, warning of a “death knell” for farmers.

The issue was repeatedly raised in the House of Commons on Thursday and Business minister Douglas Alexander defended the Government’s reforms of inheritance tax, saying “difficult and necessary choices” had to be made.


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Steve George
Steve George
29 days ago

Aw! Poor farmers. Only a £million to pass on. It must be so awful for them.

CapM
CapM
29 days ago
Reply to  Steve George

A million isn’t that great given the price of land and the value can only really be realised if the farm business ends. It sounds that like the Labour party you don’t know much about farming.. .

Mark
Mark
29 days ago
Reply to  Steve George

Farmers are asset-rich, but cash-poor. That million you sneer at is a few hundred acres of farm land plus some livestock and equipment – it is not a million in the bank. Unfortunately, inheritance tax has to be paid from liquid assets that most farms don’t have. Labour’s poorly thought-through changes will force the next generation to sell land, equipment or livestock, invest less in seed for the next season’s crop, or question why they work so hard for so little and give up altogether. None of these options are helpful to Britain’s food security and putting food on your… Read more »

aled rees
aled rees
28 days ago
Reply to  Steve George

Quite clear that you know absolutely nothing about how the countryside or how family farms work.This is quite clearly the politics of envy at work.
Just the one question for you.Is your belly full?

hdavies15
hdavies15
28 days ago
Reply to  aled rees

Gets all his grub from a soopermarket see. Can’t see the link back through the food chain and too thick to bother looking. Probably quite content to have it all air freighted from 1,000’s of miles away too.

Jack
Jack
28 days ago
Reply to  Steve George

You have to laugh don’t you. Literal millionaires complaining about their taxes going up. How is someone supposed to live when their land is only worth millions of pounds?

Arthur
Arthur
28 days ago
Reply to  Steve George

A husband and wife can claim £1m currently to include the dwelling. This £1m is an additional so total is £2m. Dairy farms in particular work on the basis of ‘ economies of scale’ – good land in the Tywi value can easily be £10k per acre. I think people fail to realise the viability of a small acreage – unlike the olden days. They are working on very fine margins and very often at a loss. This was the consequence of the post second world war ‘ cheap food policy’ – let us be clear, food is simply too… Read more »

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