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

I support them because my horses need hay/feed, the hedges and verges need to be maintained as local authorities don't bother anymore, I don't want to see our beautiful countryside succumb to weeds in 2 years when the mega rich buy the land up for the tax breaks/meet net zero targets etc but don't bother maintaining it, I like eating good locally sourced food, I like the fact that in really bad weather the farmers clear the roads when the gritters can't get through, when there were fires locally in 2022 a farmer ploughed some waste land on fire that hadn't been maintained and therefore caught fire saving people's homes and potentially lives as firefighters couldn't leave the other jobs, I like seeing animals grazing in the countryside.

What’s sad is that the James Dysons and Clarksons of this world, who bought their land purely to dodge inheritance tax, will put their assets in trust and avoid it. It is ordinary farmers who don’t earn much who will fail to succession plan and be stung by the tax.

It needs reworking so that people who are genuinely growing a proper amount of food on their land get tax relief and everyone else does not.

Broadly support them- if some rich "pretend farmers" are taking advantage of current IHT exemptions, then close that loophole, don't punish everyone. Locally grown food is in the interests of national security and emissions reduction and should be encouraged. They also haven't properly costed it out as it's clear they were scrabbling about at the last minute trying to scrape together some more policies for the budget, just like it didn't seem to occur to them that employers NI increases might affect their growth plans. I actually voted for the twats, Won't be doing that again.

No I don't support a tax break introduced by thatcher for the benefit of landowners
amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/17/farmers-have-hoarded-land-for-too-long-inheritance-tax-will-bring-new-life-to-rural-britain

..and yet you opened a thread that was clearly titled and posted on it 🙃. Why would you do that?

I saw one farmer commenting to another that they put their farm in trust so it can be passed down the family and only cost about £900 to do. What are the downsides to a trust? I am genuinely interested

Farming exists on the assumption the farm itself will be passed on down through families. They make fuck all money typically so as a business are deeply unattractive to anyone except the poor fuckers born into it.

this tax will fuck the whole industry into the hands of corporations and our food will be destroyed for profit even worse than now

Agree with this and support the farmers. I think a lot of this debate is bound up with the UK's (lack of) food culture and how messed up our general relationship with food and the rural landscape is - as a nation we just want cheap sustenance and don't really care where it comes from. There's little awareness of our food's origins, how much it costs to produce it, the relationship between farms and the supermarkets we purchase our food from, and the huge importance of food security. Personally I don't want U.K-owned farms being lost and most of the food I eat being produced by Monsanto.

We should jack IHT altogether. It’s raises a tiny amount in the scheme if things and imagine all the people who would come here and invest here if they didn’t have to pay IHT. That’s a growth policy.

I support them

A genuine family farm can avoid any liability using the generous allowances and the 7 year rule. Rich landowners have persuaded poorer people to campaign to protect their tax breaks.

*unsync *

I completely agree with all your points. This attack on the easy target (in the general public's eyes) is so shortsighted.

The idea that all this land sold off to pay IHT will be magically bought up by lovely responsible farmers who magically have the cash to do is so very naive.

In general, I don't think family farms should be taxed. If they want to weed out people who buy up land and call themselves farmers whilst not actually using the land for farming, couldn't it be a condition for example that the farm needs to sell a certain amount of produce each year in order to be exempt from inheritance tax? Or that the farm needs to stay in the family for at least a further 7 years, or else it will be liable for IHT. If a farm is genuinely being farmed and is being passed down from one generation of farmers to the next, I believe it should be exempt.

Starmer isnt stupid. He doesnt want farms closing so hes presumably costed it and these wealthier farmers can afford it.

I don't support the ones protesting.

@Spl3ndid
I also mention that if the farmer was single the threshold would be lower. The highest threshold only applies if there are two of you either married or in a CP.

I 100% them. I've found most who don't have little understanding of the way farming and inheritance tax works. All the mention of new land rovers and massive cash bank balances must come from people who have never met a farmer.

If farms are sold to pay IHT they risk being hoovered up by big conglomerates, for whom food quality and countryside management are very very low on the priority list behind profit. And the more of them there are the more clout they'll have. Anyone fancy an Amercian style system of food standards? Not me!

I care about the countryside, and responsible food production, and also (seems melodramatic but with climate change will be increasingly important) the stability and self-sufficiency of the food supply chain.

You mentioned civil partnerships

Not every has a partner. What are they supposed to do - marry a random stranger?

If you think food prices are high now, wait until your food has to be imported. Unless of course you don't mind GM foods and slack hygiene regulations. That's without looking at animal welfare.

It's a fallacy that land sold will remain productive. Prime arable is already being sold off for large solar farms. Add in developers landbanking, hobbyists, one-off housing, etc etc.

Family farms plan on a generational basis with long term investment for very little financial reward with tight margins. If you have to sell land or livestock which makes the farm unviable, why bother? I've worked in farming, but I wouldn't be a farmer for anything.

They are and they get support. Doesn’t mean they can’t pay inheritance tax like everybody else.

I support them because dh used to do the accounts for farmers and most were living right on the edge due to it being so weather dependant and other factors that can't be controlled. It's actually quite an insecure income. They also have a high rate of suicide as it's so stressful. Also, we need to grow our own food in this country. Farming needs to be valued.

Not hard to get married if necessary is it.

The £3m figure isn’t true in all cases. It depends if the farm is held by a couple who are married or in a civil partnership passing the assets to children or grandchildren. In some cases the figure may be lower eg a single person passing the farm to a nephew or niece.

I am sure it wasn’t beyond the wit of HMT /HMRC to set a requirement that the farm was exempt if passed to a relative and operated as a farm for x number of years after it was inherited. I assume farmers need to fill in various official returns each year etc which would allow the continuing operation as a farm to be verified.

@JoanCollected I’m a farmers daughter and also agree that IHT at the full rate would be entirely appropriate and acceptable for that scenario.

I support them to an extent, a more nuanced approach is needed - hobby farmers/people with horses for fun and wealthy bankers who’ve bought farms to evade tax shouldn’t be exempt from any of it. Families for whom it provides 80% or more of their income should. Maybe also stricter rules about holiday property etc too would be fine, but agriculture in its pure form should be exempt.

No they don’t, they have 10 years interest free to pay it off. It’s only farms over £3 million for those owned by a couple. They can and should pay.