By making Jeremy Clarkson their spokesperson, Farmers have shot themselves in the foot

[Coolasfeck]

JC openly admitted to becoming a farmer to avoid IHT. Why do farmers think having him as the figurehead will help them? Just because he’s off the telly doesn’t mean ordinary people will support him. It makes them all appear to be out of touch millionaires.

Feels like a spectacular own goal. Either that or the media is setting them up by making him the focus.

Quote from Sky News:

‘Those generous reliefs have made agriculture an attractive investment for those seeking to shelter wealth from the taxman.

Clarkson, the UK's highest profile farmer - and opponent of the government's plans - said as much when promoting his Amazon series about becoming the proprietor of Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire.

"Land is a better investment than any bank can offer. The government doesn't get any of my money when I die. And the price of the food that I grow can only go up," he told the Times.

Mr Clarkson is far from alone. Private and institutional investors, along with so-called "lifestyle" farmers funding purchases from previous careers, like the former Top Gear presenter and his Oxfordshire neighbour, the Blur bassist Alex James, now dominate agricultural land purchases.’

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/whats-the-beef-with-farmers-inheritance-tax-13256257

‘ Hope they tax Grouse Shooting out of existence .. monoculture ruining the biodiversity of the countryside, so a few rich boys can dress in tweed, leaving piles of rotting birds behind‘

Grouse were £27 a brace * at the farm gate where I am this year. Not much danger of rotting piles being left on the ground when they fetch that much.

( BtW , grouse moorland is very poor in nutrients and not much else will grow there, nor do many other birds or animals find it a prosperous environment for ‘bio diversity’ . So the grouse moors are a pretty good use for that land. )

’Brace’ = Tweed ‘ term for two 🤭

But what will we eat?

The government are blatantly banking on land being sold to developers to mass build on greenfield sites.

He's a twat. And he's not been elected, he's just a self appointed bigmouth

Yup. He’s a hobby farmer and a tax dodging C&nt.
They should bin him and have some real farmers - and not poshos who’ve inherited big estates, actual farmers who’s assets are £1m+ but who aren’t wealthy

There are some incredibly dismissive posts of Clarkson on this thread.

I don't think he is remotely 'Reform'. Yes Conservative but not Reform.

You can tell the posters who have watched Clarkson's farm and those who haven't.

Tbh whilst on a personal level he maybe trying to dodge the inheritance, I also think he understands how the change will effect other farmers.

I know that this might be a different concept to hold for some people, but it's Clarkson is right about somethings and wrong about others and he can be both an arse and be doing something very constructive for farmers.

At the same time.

But it seems impossible for people to get beyond anyone being 'good' or 'evil' in a childish simple view of the world.

I thought he was brilliant on Clarkson's Farm but oh boy he was so rude to Victoria Derbyshire this afternoon when she was interviewing him at the march. Totally unnecessary and did the farmers cause more harm than good I'd say

@FelixtheAardvark "You don't see the Duke of Devonshire worrying about IHT on his vast estates do you."

Nor the other 19 Dukes who are major landowners- several of them significantly more substantial than Devonshire.

Why don't farmers make their farms a business so it's not passing it on to family but instead they could sell it on (which could be given to family at a super low price)?

This is a genuine question.

Totally agree

Completely agree.

It baffles me that various governments are happy to give away both our energy & food security. I just don't understand why?!!

This, I totally agree. 3 million tax free and then half the rate of tax the rest of us would have to pay. As a single parent, who has a family home and disabled children, my allowance is £500K which I think is just under what my house is worth. My kids will have to pay 40% on any amount over the threshold and they will not have the 10 years that the farmers children will have to pay it

I think the difference is I can’t eat your house.

They screamed the loudest for Brexit, which has cost us all £100 billion. Thry got what they wanted, it’s not my fault they were lied to, so they will have to suck it up. 🙄

There are 500 people, by definition rich landowners who are affected by this. Why should I pay 40% on my estate which includes a business, when a farmer only has to pay 20%? (To be clear I think we should both pay 40%).

Farmers also get cheap diesel and pay no road tax.

If anyone is screwing farmers, it's supermarkets.

Clarkson is either lying now about why he bought a far, or he was lying then. The idea that he would have been anything other than proud of shooting on his land is laughable.

Can't eat your farmhouse or your view from the back bedrooms, either.

But you are comparing Apples and Oranges. Your children's inheritance will be spent on whatever it is they want. A deposit for their own house, home improvements, a large holiday, a new car, even drugs if that is what they want I hope not, but that is there option!)

Farms are a different beast. All one farmer is passing down to their child is the responsibility of looking after the land / animals, to continue to farm and to continue to produce the food that will go on your children's plates. They don't have the option of doing what they like - they are simply inheriting a massive responsibility.

There is likely no cash to pass down. (OK, likely to be something in the business account, but likely a lot less than your children will get from you, and will be needed for the purpose of farming). And if you now saddle the farmers child with massive inheritance tax, that farm will have to be sold off - and probably for housing. And where is that food now coming from? Oh yes, being shipped in from abroad.

This whole "I'm poor, so should everyone else" attitude stinks, and completely misses the point. If you want food, it has to be produced by someone! And preferably in this country!

Totally agree

He's amusing and all but yes, a buffoon. It is a tad embarrassing now that his admission has come back to haunt him.

As far as I'm concerned, if average Joe has to pay inheritance tax on a property then farmers should, too.

Nobody, be they land owners, share holders, CEO's or bloody royalty should be getting out of paying taxes that the average person on the street has to.

This.

Well the Chinese are busy buying up British farms to grow rice to send back to China.

As Jeremy Clarkson himself pointed out, he has an army of accountants and will just put his in trust. As will many other wealthy Dukes and landowners. They are rich enough to pay for the best estate planning advice and will minimise their tax bill accordingly.

As with much of government policy, it’s the ordinary people who are “rich” enough - with land in this scenario, not cash - who will pay while the extremely rich pivot to a new scheme.

Not dissimilar to the private schools stuff, all the really rich people paid upfront for years in advance and it’s the people just about affording it who will pay the tax.

I heard someone explain how they do it in Ireland. If 80% of the land isn't used productively for the 6 years before the owner's death then inheritance tax is due.

Incidentally some of my siblings and friends new houses were on farmers fields that were sold off....

The problem is that you have two types of farmer (for simplicity). One is the type whose family has been farming for years, the farm will (hopefully) be passed on down the line, and those are the ones to feel sorry for,
The other type are the clarksons of the group that are hobby farmers and doing this to avoid tax.
Ending up with a hobby farmer as the face of this is not going to help the cause.

As an aside farmers are generally tory voters( or they are where I lived so Labour will lose very few votes over this.

@ExtraOnions which grouse shoot left rotting birds?