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

I think it’s a really interesting conversation. I’m inclined to believe that no one likes disruption in their sector but it happens and it’s part of history and often beneficial in the long term. I also can’t help thinking farmers weren’t that worried about the disruption they caused to British businesses when they overwhelmingly voted for brexit 😉

But these generational farms aren't the ones who will be affected by land values being brought back to sensible price. The land will have been bought and paid for years prior. In reality this will bring those in the £3m valuation down also.

Just using the rise in the past two years of over £2k an acre. Land has become an investors wet dream. A return of 20% in two years. Something needs to stop a rise like that.

Like you, I'd like to see common sense applied to the greening aspect in terms of eco friendly ideas. One suggestion right off the top of my head, How feasible would it be to create rooftop gardens with wildflowers on supermarket buildings. Make that part of their licensing and could be used to offset CO2. We are a nation with some of the best engineers in the world. I'm sure we could come up with schemes like this.

For small farmers, for example 5-600 acres, the farmer can just about make enough to live on, rarely any more. If he/she is hit with IHT he has to sell a whole or part of his land. That land is the equivalent of a tool used by a tradesman. Once he goes below that amount of land, his tool, his business will fail. It is as simple as that. This land may have a financial value but if the owner is forced to sell to pay IHT, he's finished and another source of UK food production is lost.

I am not a farmer, nor am I from a farming family but I live in a rural county where we all understand the true value of food producing land.

IHT aside, surely it’s a more fundamental question of why farming isn’t profitable, or as profitable as it should be for an essential industry.

My understanding is farmers have little direct route to market and are beholden to large supermarket chains setting prices and taking huge profits. There’s odd economics in that supermarkets will artificially keep the price of some things low but fleece both farmers and consumers on other things.

Some food should simply not be as cheap as it is, which is an uncomfortable statement for many, but we know where the profit is going.

I support them. The margins are wafer thin in farming and only farms with lots of land can make a profit. Farmers work such long hours up at dawn if milking. Very late finishes if harvesting. If they have to pay death duties every generation farms will be gone by the next generation.

I support them but I don’t admit to knowing all of the ins and outs. As basic as it sounds, I’d almost like to see a Clarksons Farm episode as I have certainly found this programme to be very educational and informative over the years. I think Clarkson would find a way of explaining and getting the issues across to a large number of people.

I am not putting this at Clarksons door. I’d say the same if it was Jamie Oliver Farm or Lewis Hamilton farm.

Exactly.
So shows the treasury are totally incompetent for not thinking this through. Of they've done it intentionally.

Fully support them.

No. I don’t support them. Everyone pays inheritance tax.

Google it, that will tell you exactly what’s happening and why

i support the farmers

Gifting isn't so straightforward though in many ways....
No one knows when they will die. Sometimes children die before their parents.
Gifting has implications around no longer getting benefit from the asset while in reality many farmers literally continue working til they drop.

It's really not so straightforward to say just do this.

He hasnt just decided it on a whim. It's been costed out and must add up.

Naturally farmers are going to be up in arms about losing money.

Cant see a Starmer U Turn.

If billionaires hadn't used this as an inheritance tax avoidance scheme, this would never have had to happen.

Why is it those people never get blamed, instead the government get the flack for trying to stop profiteering.

Reference also the bloody 90% of winter fuel allowance claimants who didn't need it hiding behind the 10% who desperately did.

Don't allow yourselves to be used as a human shield for grifters and bounders. 🙄

And I don't disagree with that, I live in an area where I could buy 1 acre of land for 50k-100k depending on the land. A small farm of around 100 acres easily runs into well over 3 million, if I went to another area of the country it wouldn't.

I agree also that the land is over valued massively but thats the reality of it. If you put IHT in now many farms in places where land is at such ridiculous prices they will be affected. The land prices will come down but in the meantime many SMEs are affected, there is no two ways around that.

Recognising that land prices are ridiculous is one thing, dropping them over night is fiscally irresponsible where borrowing is concerned.

I agree also that private investment in agricultural land requires a massive review. Subsidies are currently tied to eco friendly/wildlife measure so there is a massive amount of greenwashing going on as well as tax breaks.

It is an entirely shit situation that has been woefully exploited but the people it impacts most is the SME farmers. We need those people, all of us who want to eat need them so the proposed policy needs to be reviewed to lessen the imact on them.

He really hasn't. Its policy shows he has zero care for farmers, our countryside and our food security.

Completely agree.

Why will they? They have 10 years tax free to pay it off?

Other family businesses pay so why not farmers. Starmers got it right.

I support them because I like living in a rural area, and if farming land ends up being broken up and sold off, it will be built on. Our countryside is vital for food production, wildlife habitats and ecological balance - it must be protected.

On what basis do you think this? Data, please

With the allowance, I can't see how many of your SME customers will be anywhere near the required value to pay. If they do because the land they sit on, is currently valued way above it's true value then it does need something to address it. Removing IHT and looking at how big finance and multi national companies have bought up UK land is required.

A good example would be tate and lyle. Why should the UK taxpayer be paying a ltd company millions annually in subsidy payments.

I support them because I was in the industry as a farm worker/contractor. I also live in a semi-rural area so it affects where we live too. I worked mainly for SMEs in agriculture across the south and midands.

I think the IHT change is a poor policy as it stands. I am not against closing tax loopholes for very wealthy private non-farming investors who don't bother to rent to tenant farmers and hoard valuable agricultural land that could be used for food production, nor private non-farming investors buying a farm as a weekend getaway and leave the land fallow, or development businesses that sit on land passing it through shell companies trying to break agricultural ties by having sky high rents no one can afford so the council is forced to agree to planning other business activities. I don't even mind a sliding scale of IHT for large landowners who rent to farm tenants or leisure activities or other landowners who rent for camping etc.

I get that this could bring land prices down so those of us with the vocation could get a foot into farming but this will take some years to do. In the meantime many farmers who are just your normal average farmer not the brand new range rover set who will be utterly broken by this and while you could plan to hand it over to the next generation, it's a very dangerous business and few of us get the opportunity of knowing the exact date we will die so can't plan easily for it. Meantime those with mortgages outstanding will see dropping land values affecting their borrowing and be in negative equity.

As a country the UK populace is far removed from it's farming ancestors so our structures often leave out the rural industries or treat them as something distainful, or some kind of tourist novelty. There is little understanding for agriculture as an industry by the people who make the laws regardless of party.

Agriculture is extremely high pressured, subject to the vagaries of weather, global politics, and supply and demand. Farmers are accused of being grabby but yet the middlemen who buy for the supermarkets use thumbscrew tactics to squeeze every last drop of profit for shareholders in the food retail businesses and food processors don't often get called greedy or grabby just doing their job. I'm not having a go at shareholders either but this business structure in our food business causes untold misery for those who produce food.

The SME farmer is the bottom of the pile and a public who think they should just sell off some land just don't seem to get that food producers going out of business or producing less directly affects them. Not only does it affect food prices, it affects our health, the places we live, and even our eco system.

We are on the brink of a world war again, how we will be affected I don't know but food security is one of the keys to our nation surviving especially as islands, we are incredibly easily cut off. We are an increasing population, our food supply is affected already by war and global politics, this is absolutely no time to be losing farmers.

How does this cover the more common scenario that someone buys the land and then rents it to farmers?

I don't appreciate my food security being messed with

If they wanted to stop people buying land to avoid inheritance tax a more nuanced rule could have been bought into play such as working farms don't pay inheritance tax they are like the teachers punishing the class because one or two children are acting like dicks

Yes.

One of our local farmers has had the farm in the family for several generations. He's now in his 70s. He and his son work very hard. If they have to pay inheritance tax when the farmer dies, they'll have to sell off a bit of the farm, probably making it unfeasible to keep going.