To support UK Farmers

[TheHateIsNotGood]

And due to KS's inability to face them in Wales today they are now thinking of going on strike. Because the govt are being too stubborn to reconsider how they apply IHT on working family farms. By all means close the loophole that allows the 'landed gentry' to take advantage of the agricultural exception but not with so blunt an instrument.

I was hoping to add a post to an existing thread but there isn't one despite it being headline news today.

On average it would cost each farm over 150% of their annual profits in order to pay it off in 10 years.

The farmers that are alive now won't have to pay a penny.

If it's so unprofitable and such a hard life, why do so many stick at it ? Why don't they sell up and do something else?

The price of food in places where everything has to be imported (where they can hardly grow anything) is extremely high. We aint seen nothing yet.
If we don't make a real effort to support food production we are going to be over a barrel with the price of imports.

Plenty of people can't afford to live in the town they grew up in or to live in the equivalent of their old family home. Why should farmers be the exception ? Others can farm their farm if they can no longer afford to do so.

Of course they will! There are multiple generations working just about every family farm in the land.

Brexit has ruined us and many farmers voted for it.

Really? So who is going to farm it if we lose our family farms?
How is anyone going to be able to afford to get a start in farming? Take the cost of the land out of it for a minute, the cost of the machinery and stock alone is more than most realise!

That's before you start on understanding the land you're working. Where the wet spots are. What grows well where. What is going to flood. Where looses water quickly and becomes dry.
Generations of knowledge and skills will be lost.

You have zero understanding of farming

Only those that inherit unearned income will have to pay inheritance tax. I should have said only farmers that currently own their farms will not have to pay any tax, because the tax becomes payable on their death by their heir.

The government don’t want to back down so they don’t look like idiots. So they dig in further, revealing themselves as idiots.

So! 🤷🏻‍♀️ more than 50% percent of the public believed the lies and voted for it.
It wasn't just farmers who voted 🙄

Oh and funnily enough you're wrong anyway! the farming votes were split on brexit the same way the rest of the countries were! Stop parroting misinformation!

The price of food in places where everything has to be imported (where they can hardly grow anything) is extremely high. We aint seen nothing yet.
If we don't make a real effort to support food production we are going to be over a barrel with the price of imports.

UK farming is behind a protective tariff barrier, and that's been our (pretty sensible) policy for decades. Imports are made artificially high to protect our own farmers. Dropping tariffs will undercut UK food production costs and give us cheaper food. It's why last year's trade deal with Australia caused a lot of anxiety among British farmers, and a lot of celebration in Australia.
https://minister.agriculture.gov.au/watt/media-releases/a-ukfta

There are plenty of problems with that strategy, but dearer food certainly isn't one of them.

But it's not unearned income is it! Most younger farmers who are working on farms alongside their parents are working for peanuts because they believed they would inherit.
Most are working well below minimum wage. Many have other jobs alongside and ploughing money into the farms themselves too.

I believe B&B’s benefit from BPR so don’t pay IHT on the property as a business asset. I’m not sure if the Budget screwed B&B owners over too though, as I know the government is also proposing changes to BPR.

Taxing the same set of working assets over and over again every time one of the business partners dies (every 20-30 years, say) is simply unsustainable, particularly for a business that has an incredibly high ratio of working assets to profitability and is paid an artificially low amount for its produce.

The people inheriting are already working on the farm and under the proposals they’ll be taxed to continue using the tools that they’re using to grow the food that is supplied to you at an artificially low price. They will never receive the money that the tools are worth unless they close the business and sell up, in which case they should and will be taxed anyway.

None of this is your problem to worry about when it’s the odd family farm going under here and there. When will you start to care though? When you can only get hold of imported powdered milk and chlorinated chicken? When all your local green space is built upon? When the public footpaths are rewilded and soon become impassable? When food supply sanctions are imposed by hostile foreign governments?

I absolutely agree that a system needs to be put in place to stop wealthy individuals going around buying up farmland as a tax avoidance scheme. Setting the threshold at a point that decimate small multi generational farms is in no way fair, nor is it levelling the playing field with more conventional business models.

How is anyone inheriting unearned income. The current farmer pays taxes on income. The one that inherits it will also pay tax on income they earn. Why does the government get an extra cut because the farmer changes from father to son or daughter? Makes no sense to me.

Couldn't agree with you more.

They see farm land and ping!!! Ooooh solar village! Yay! (Insert money clapping cymbals)

I'm happy to admit I know little about farming but stats show that in 2022, 1.005% of the UK population was employed in agriculture, hunting, forestry, and fishing. This is based on data from the World Bank.

It is a tiny section of the population that has enjoyed significant benefits denied to the rest of the population for many years.

They have to pay their fair share, that's all really. They will find a way to make it work or they won't. Like everyone else they will have to rearrange their business affairs to fit with legislation and contribute to the common good whether they like it or not. 20% on £3m over 10 yrs is a whole lot less than 95% if the population has to pay.

@GentleFlower why shouldn't farmers be able to take their kids to rugby matches or take a few hours off here and there? Why?
People employed in any other profession are allowed 5 weeks holiday a year. Why shouldn't farmers get some down time too?
Your logic and jealousy is flawed!

95% of the population pay IHT? That’s not true though, is it?

InwalksBarbarella
Because that is how inheritance tax works. If I'm living with a parent and they die, leaving me their home, I have to pay tax on it over the permitted allowance. That's it.

Why do you think you can make a judgment on something you freely admit you know nothing about @OddityOddityOdd?

You criticise farmers for voting for brexit (which your wrong about anyway) and being ill informed, then start spouting off about something you know nothing about 🤷🏻‍♀️ bit hypocritical really!

You're really not getting this are you!!

It is absolutely nothing like you inheriting your parents house 🤦🏻‍♀️