To ask why you support the farmers, regarding inheritance tax?

Round here (and it’s the same in the only other county I lived in long enough to gain such random information) the farmland is overwhelmingly owned by landed gentry (a lord who is a massive, public brexit supporter to boot) he rents his land to tenant farmers which he is extremely passionate about.

i can’t wait until the public take some inheritance tax off him. His estate which includes half of central London was gifted to his ancestors by the monarch 400 years ago. They did fuck all work for it. SHOW US THE MONEY

What on earth are you talking about? Farmers get billions of government support, most won’t be affected and those that are and wealthy have 10 years interest free to pay. They’re all also not going to be suddenly dying off. So much drama.

So a single 80 year old farmer should just get married? To whom?

I think it's bad for the industry

I think it's a stupid ill thought out policy

I generally oppose death duties

There is a lot of well sourced information saying they did. I have just finished reading an entire research paper into it on the back of this thread

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074301671930436X

many, many trusted sources clearly state that farmers voted overwhelmingly for brexit. I see no reason to dismiss them based on your comment to the contrary

‘They’ employ contractors to harvest grain and make hay/silage but farmers need tractors, trailers etc for everyday jobs.

Ah yes, the dedicated farmers. Round here they are all excitedly selling off acres for major housing development, not so dedicated when mega bucks are on offer. Even the poorer ones live in the sort of period houses most people could never afford, room for a horse or two, lots of outdoor space for the children etc. etc.
Most of them have diversified with holiday cottages in the old stables, flogged off a few building plots or the old farm cottages. Camp sites, farm shops, cookery courses B&B there are not that many of them actually earning a living from the land. Those that farm animals are frequently beneath contempt with cruel animal husbandry. Every other type of business has to live with and plan for inheritance tax. I'm afraid I have zero sympathy for any of them. I come from a farming family too.

Do you not support them to the point that you would prefer to play higher prices and have food be more scarce than they have enough money to continue? That would seem to be cutting off your nose to spite your face just to ensure someone else doesn’t have more than you think they ought?

Only as a result of the budget, like farmers.

Until the budget business property relief was available for unquoted trading companies,

The media, have focused on the changes to apr, but many family businesses are now needing serious iht planning just like farmers.

And the big question is, if almost all can avoid it by tax planning, what's the point of the change? Why introduce very seriously unpopular policies then say it hardly affects anyone.

Many did and they campaigned for it for years.

They didn’t ‘overwhelmingly vote for Brexit’

Don’t most of them lease machinery these days?

I think the value is tied up in farm machinery and land.

I support them because I'm fond of eating.

If they’re not a millionaire then there isn’t any inheritance tax to pay. It’s only on £2m or £3m.
So those non millionaire farmers will be fine.

I support the farmers. I don’t support how this has been implemented but then I don’t agree with inheritance tax on principle and certainly not at the rate it’s levied in the UK.

this

I support them because the goalposts have been moved without enough time to plan for the new rules. If you are an 80 year old farmer and haven't already passed the farm on to the next generation then it's probably too late to do it now as you may not live 7 years. Nor can you take out life insurance to cover the potential inheritance tax liability. Insurers tend not to insure 80 year olds against dying.

It does to the tune of £2.4 billion in the farming support budget. We’re talking about inheritance tax which everybody else has to pay without a multi billion pound support fund to hand.

Farmland that is merely held, but not farmed, or that is tenanted out is seen as an investment and subject to full IHT already. This was a change of interpretation of IHT exceptions that came in under the Tories. The same goes for landlords who use agencies. If you don’t do the work yourself, it is deemed to be an investment, not a business, and is subject to full IHT.

So who are farms selling the land to to make the money back for IHT?

They're already selling it off for house builders.

I support them, because I don't want a scenario where we have to import even more low quality food, or worse, have to rely on hormone fed beef, or chlorine rinsed chicken from America.

Well said. Especially the last sentence

I'm a Labour voter but this policy seems like a miscalculation. I was aware that James Dyson was buying up farmland which he could pass on without it being liable for inheritance tax, and obviously that loophole should be closed. However, a country that imports 40% of its food needs to encourage farmers - actual farmers that is.

I think they should pay tax. Like any other person with estates and businesses. The allowances are very generous already and few will actually be effected. And loopholes with people like Clarkson buying farmland to avoid tax should be closed.