Farmers - a put upon minority or greedy gits - you decide.

[Beebo]

There is a protest in London today from farmers, who are angry at the changes to inheritance tax rules on farmland.

Do you have any sympathy or should they pay up. I can understand the concerns of genuine family farmers who may fall foul of the thresholds but it is clear that farmland is being used by the very wealth to protect assets from IHT. So the government have to do something to close the loophole. The new system still remains more generous than standard IHT.

Maybe the government will tweak the margins. But there will still be an outcry from the Shires that Labour hate the farmers.

I wish Mudsticks was still here to help us.

 

[All uphill]

Why are farmers the exception that should pay less tax?

Why not builders who want to pass their business on to their children?

All this guff about custodians of the countryside gives me a pain when I see footpaths closed, fields full of a single crop that does nothing for biodiversity.

 

[bobzmyunkle]

i read somewhere that Clarkson's off to London to join the protest. That's raised my sympathy for the farmers case then (not really).
Minette Batters on the radio this morning. That's raised my sympathy for the farmers case then (not really).
Easy to write it off - these are the people who voted for Brexit after all (discuss if you must). On the other hand it's easy to believe that Starmer and his chums have no understanding of farming.

Anyhow, this from the Guardian today

------------------------------------​

What are the alternatives?​

In France, the only country in Europe with full food self-sufficiency meaning they do not have to rely on imports, farmers can access tax relief if they jump through administrative hoops to prove they work the land themselves.

Guy Singh-Watson, an organic farmer and founder of Riverford Organic vegetable boxes, who broadly supports the government’s plan, said: “Land in the French Vendée – where I have owned a 120-hectare (300-acre) farm for the past 15 years – is less than a 10th of the price of equivalent land in Devon, where I also farm. To be a farmer there, you have to be deemed fit to farm by the local administration. I doubt whether many landowners simply buying up farmland would pass that test.” He suggested a similar policy could be put in place in the UK, with true farmers given tax benefits.
-----------------------------------------------------

The first sentence could be rewritten - In France, the only country in Europe with full food self-sufficiency meaning they do not have to rely on imports, farmers can access tax relief if they prove they work the land themselves.

 

[All uphill]

If you give one small group a way to pass wealth undertaxed from generation to generation you get...

One royal family and a lot of peasants.

 

[bobzmyunkle]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9J0GpnXNhY

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Word of the day - monopsonist. (see video above).

 

[Beebo]

So if you remove the tax relief on agricultural land, it devalues the land as rich investors no longer want it.
so smaller farmers actually benefit, as their asset is worth less but still just as productive and they can pass on more.

 

[AuroraSaab]

I don't want British farming to consist of mega farms owned by multinationals so I'd prefer something like the French system. I do wonder if this policy has the long term aim of freeing up land for housing or wind farms. I think we'll see companies buying up batches of land from small farmers and land banking it until planning laws change.

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Clarkson....

The former Top Gear presenter and now farm owner addressed his previous comments in a 2021 interview with The Times, in which he said that avoiding inheritance tax was “the critical thing” in his decision to buy land.

Heading to the Westminster demonstration, the Clarkson’s Farm star said: “The only reason I said that is because I actually bought the farm because I wanted to shoot, but you can't go around saying ‘Oh, I wanted to shoot’ because then you get shouted at by animal enthusiasts.

“I jokingly said, oh, it's just inheritance tax and now of course it's come back to bite me on the arse, but it doesn't really matter because we're here to support farmers, we’re not talking about me.”

What a tosser.

 

[matticus]

Clarkson also seems to be the one marketing this as "Tractor Tax protest";
which is ironic, as their vehicles are driving into central London without paying ULEZ.

(not to mention that the tax isn't on tractors, but that's obvious. Isn't it? :-/

 

[Beebo]

Have the Daily Mail complained about all the ambulances and tradesmen that can’t get through the disruption yet?

 

[bobzmyunkle]

Have the Daily Mail complained about all the ambulances and tradesmen that can’t get through the disruption yet?

Oh dear, you prompted me to check and I came across this..

His comments will follow an extraordinary intervention from tech billionaire Elon Musk, who last night accused Sir Keir Starmer's administration of 'going full Stalin' against British farmers.

 

[Psamathe]

I can't understand why farmers are kicking up when they are being asked to pay less than half the inheritance tax rate the rest of us have to pay.

Reports I've seen raise it as "unfair" because older farmers have never paid any pension contributions so have no pension (raised by NFU president). Also that advice farmers receive has been to keep their farms until they die - why does getting/acting on bad advice exempt you from paying tax everybody else has to pay (all be that at less than half the rate). My family has been impacted by taxation changes after they took financial advice (good when given, bad after Government changes to taxation).

NFU are contesting Treasury data on numbers affected, but unfortunately it seems that Treasury data are based on real world exemption applications submitted to HMRC whereas other data (eg DEFRA and NFU) are based on their own estimates - which to me makes the Treasury data far more reliable.

And it's a short term issue anyway with the 7 year gift rule (there are ways round the ‘gift with reservation’ rules).

The recent budget is directly and/or indirectly going to cost us all so farmers complaining 'cos they was exemption is going to prove difficult to garner much public sympathy.

Ian

 

[BoldonLad]

Why are farmers the exception that should pay less tax?

Why not builders who want to pass their business on to their children?

All this guff about custodians of the countryside gives me a pain when I see footpaths closed, fields full of a single crop that does nothing for biodiversity.

This ^^^^ plus the "they voted for Brexit" auguement

 

[Beebo]

I listened to this live. It’s shocking.
We all know O'Brien can be a bit overbearing but this guy is an absolute tool.


View: https://youtu.be/WJA1Qw6ZUnM?si=p7UV5i0Nwwrl7avR