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.

''If billionaires are using a tax loop hole to avoid IHT target them not the genuine farmers.''

These are the very people who are going to be affected by this change. Why should incredibly wealthy people and companies like Clarkson, Dyson, Tate & Lyle etc avoid tax this way. Do a bit research on who actually owns land around you and their wealth. You will get a shock.

A relatively modest farm in the South East will be affected. The proposed tax will be applied to all farm assets including the (agriculturally tied) houses, the machinery, the livestock, the land. Of course it’s going to exceed £2.8m for most family farms.

@PenGold Dan Neidle has looked at the data. His maths stacks up.

Clarkson campaigning on this when he IS THE PROBLEM
is not helping the argument for farmers

Interesting perspective.

Mine is that one day I might actually be better off back in "Putin overtaken" Europe, namely Czech Republic.

Good

Lots of people won’t realise how much the valuation of kit or stores in the shed are worth. I have half a million pounds worth of crops on store right now. Combine is worth well over 100k, A few tractors at 75k each, a drill for 35k. add in land at 10k and acre plus a nice house it very very quickly adds up.

But it isn't just about the IHT, it's about the fact that this will mean as generations pass there will be fewer and fewer farmers because of it and if that happens it'll definitely be a problem for us all. Not a niche subject at all!

I can’t stand Clarkson.

I’m also literally living this. I understand the maths, believe me.

Exactly this

There’s a reason the NFU don’t want farmers to go to London on the 19th. This could backfire spectacularly with public opinion.

The farmers I know shouting the loudest about this are the ones who can afford it. The rest are too busy finish spraying/sorting turkeys at this time of year.

Rich land owners persuading you they should not pay tax is a tale as old as time…. Don’t be a sucker

Oddly enough it was also Thatcher that broke the strength of the NFU at the same time as the miners so that it is now little more than an Insurance Company.

My empathies also lie wth the mining communities now living in a wasteland.

I think they need to rethink the cliff edge for implementing this, or relax the rules for elderly farmers who maybe don't have 7 years left to manage this properly. I'm sure some of them may be contemplating the unthinkable before April 2026.

Honestly, it’s not a huge deal. There is 18 months to get it sorted so that you have a business partnership that you can transfer assets in, where working farm buildings etc. will not attract tax. The only people who need to worry about paying the new tax are dysfunctional families where transfer of the business isn’t planned in advance. If you’re a farmer, talk to your accountant and start making the necessary changes.

Ah well that's alright then. I'm sure you have the full measure of all farmers everywhere and know many personally very well.

I don't want the government to go after farmers. Our land and our food is so important. I stand with farmers.

Unless it is a very large concern, very few farms own combines or large expensive machinery that is only used once or twice a year. Most hire in contractors for silage or harvesting.

You do make a good point that allowance should be made for stock of crop or animals. But imo farm land is far too expensive and has been pushed up by tax avoidance like the current system.

Then talk to an accountant, get tax planning and work with the law as it is
not how you'd like it to be
its what EVERY OTHER business has to do around IHT

The vast majority of farmers voted for Brexit - with a passion too. That's a fact. Their own union warned them about the innumerable pitfalls (including food rotting in the fields) and obvious loss of EU subsidies and workers. The NFU supported Remain. But nope, the farmers weren't having any of it. Pretty hard to feel sympathy to be honest.

Behave. The NFU is one of the most powerful unions in the UK. The foot and mouth crisis in 2001 is a prime example. Millions of animals were culled at inflated prices based on NFU & SNFU's claims.

Foot and mouth isn't a fatal disease for a massive proportion of animals. It just made them less economically viable. A great many farmers became overnight millionaires off the back of the government throwing money around like confetti.

The then SNFU chairman and Scottish government advisor did immensely well on his farm as did many of his neighbours.

How exactly?...

How many other businesses rely on having significant land ownership in order to be viable? Land that was taxed when purchased. A business that feeds the nation? Absolutely necessary for a sustainable future. The alternative is small holdings being sold to pay tax and that cannot become a viable farm business.

I've not read all the posts here so apologies if this has been posted.

I'm an ex farm worker. There needs to be a way to differentiate from farmers, landowners who rent to farmers, land owners that rent for or operate non-food and leisure uses, and people who own farm and woodland for tax breaks and couldn't care less about renting the land out to anyone.

For those who are likely to be saying it only affects a few, it depends on the part of the UK you are in, farmland prices and farmland supply varies across the UK as does the percentage of private non-farming investors and people buying up farms as a lifestyle choice but do not want to farm.

Also they need to stop classing equestrian use as agricultural use (Cameron/Osbourne thanks a bundle) and cap rents so it is no more profitable having liveries than it is renting to farmers.

Bring the land back into food production where possible. I used to ride and I live in a very horsey area, but half the fields are empty with no chance of persuading the land owners to stop trying to get 200-600 per month/horse or pony from a diminishing horsey crowd (horse and pony prices around here are cripplingly high). They wouldn't get anywhere near that a year/acre for farm rents.

When you think we were around 80% self sufficient in food in the 1980s and today around 60% self sufficient, we are in dire need of getting back to producing food before it gets worse. That also means getting the thumbscrews taken off food prices at the farm gate and finding savings though the packagers and processed food producers rather than off the farmers, but of course it is easier to screw over an individual SME than it is to tackle a giant processor and packager or supermarket.

Support UK grown food, is something no one should feel unreasonable about, we make some wonderful food.

Wow! Okay you're very out of touch

We both do supermarket night shifts for minimum wage as we only just break even on the farm.

When DFil passes away we will lose the land (we have no capital to pay IHT) the land will end up going for housing. You'll lose the green space forever. Land is the one thing we can never build more of. Once is built on its lost forever.

Farming is the last truly British industry. Once it's gone we will never get that back. That puts us at serious risk if there are shortages in the future.

@ARealitycheck . Behave? Not likely, I don't care about who has done well in the past, or even now, right now I only care about the food I eat and the people producing it. And the govt is fucking around with that.

I've already informed ds I'm off to Londinium next week.