When farmers claim such small financial returns on their land/work surely more scrutiny should be given as to the reasons, eg our food supply systems and financial power of the supermarkets? Rather than the current uproar relating to Inheritance tax
I'd be interested to know if they think that someone inheriting a farm and selling it within a couple of years should pay the same inheritance tax as someone continuing to farm it. The 20% inheritance tax rate is too generous for the former.
Is this protest a consequence of their Brexit vote🤷♂️ if the economy was in better shape the chancellor wouldn’t have come looking for pennies under the sofa, fuck around find out.
I have seen that this will affect very few farmers, is there evidence to support this? If so, is this a genuine problem or a politically inflated storm in a teacup?
Ask government how much interest will they need to pay on money borrowed against the promised windfall of Inheritance tax when all these farmers die. And how long.
How about properly tackling through anti-avoidance measures those who have actively sought to avoid IHT by land banking, rather than pulling working family farms that have passed through several generations into this new tax regime?
Why don’t landowners want to pay their share when they know the services they (may one day) rely on are on their knees?
Why do they expect the poorest, being hit hard, to pay for their privilege? We need farmers for (some of) our food, but they need us as consumers & as part of wider society too.
Ask them about what they propose to do to support small farmers to get them better deals with large supermarkets and food manufacturers, who use unfair contracts to suppress the price they pay for produce as a means to increase their profits. This is a key reason why farmers struggle to make profit
Given the problem for (genuinely) small farmers and maybe medium ones too is the pitifully small prices they get for produce, shouldn't they be blockading Tescos? Propping farmers up with extraordinary tax allowance by comparison to other sectors is 'propping up' supermarkets
Ask them how THEY would prevent farms and other landed estates being used as a tax loophole. Is it the "principle" of the tax they have a problem with or would they be fine with it if the treshold was raised?
Can’t the government better target the super-rich (who seek a tax shelter through buying farmland) than the blanket tax on all farmers (most of whom are already struggling)?
Good luck! My thoughts 1) a wealth tax across the board would have been better targeted and 2) will tractors blocking the road in protest be treated the same as the JSO protestors in prison for protesting lack of climate action?
Do a little feature called The Atkins Diet and ask what she eats and where it comes from and just how serious she is about supporting British farms. Bet it's avocado o'clock round her 'ends'.
(I'll be honest this is one of those ideas where the name came first.)
Could you ask her if she was aware that she was Minister for women’s issues between 2018 & 2020 (because I don’t think she realised) & also explain that sugar isn’t farmed in the U.K.(her husband is MD of British Sugar) [a curious marital choice given she’s diabetic but she’s not very bright anyway]
Tell her it’s ok for her to go and get a job in hospitality or the care industry for minimum wage. Just because she’s been born into politics (and I’m suspecting, landowner gentry), she can and should, just break the mould
Oh and ps - could you ask her where the results of the nationwide survey that her and Priti Patel launched in support of VAWG, are? And does she even remember that? 😡 let alone acting on it
What you need is a way to differentiate real farmers from millionaires dodging IHT. Did you earn your money from farming your whole life, or did you make car programs or hoovers to make a pile of cash?
It can't be one rule for one and one rule for another. The farmers who drove tractors at the police need to be arrested and charged. The just oil protesters got prison sentences for less. Or this will literally be two-tier policing.
Will the govt commit to sitting down with the NFU so they can come to an agreement on the numbers of farms affected, so that we can assess the scale of the issue.
Some of the Farmers are saying today that the IHT change is "the final straw" for them, ask them what other straws Farmers have had in recent years, and what did they do/say about those?
I'd ask them what taxes they do want to pay? They already are exempt from many taxes unlike others in the food industry ( factory workers, shop staff, bakers, butchers etc etc) who don't get get special status.
My thinking is that it's a fair tax which largely hits people with farms worth over a million (maybe 2 million for a married couple) and who also have up to a million iht allowance on top if they are passing on to family. 10 years to pay, 1/2 the rate for normal people. Stop whinging!
Whatever you think of Labour's inheritance tax on farms...
Letting Jeremy Clarkson, Nigel Farage & Boris Johnson lead the way is INSANELY STUPID.
Clarkson just wants to dodge tax and the other two already ruined farming with Brexit.... Remember Fishing?!?
@danneidle.bsky.social says"data shows most of the cost of IHT will be borne by a few very large estates.In 2022, 2% of agricultural estates,just 37,claimed an average of £6m.That's what this is really about,not 70,000 farms.Table shows only 500 farm estates claimed APR of more than £1m in 2022.
I assume Atkins will be presented with the facts of how many farms will be affected (c. 500 from numerous analysis), as opposed to claims from herself and others. To be honest if she is unable to accept that, I struggle to think of any other meaningful answers or comments she would have to make.
Farmers should just shut up. They can avoid IHT by gifting 7 yrs prior to death (PET). Also the claimed IHT bills won’t materialise anyway. Once the use of farmland as an IHT shelter is gone- the value will plummet as will the resulting IHT bills - which is the intent of the legislation.
Ask Atkins if she supports British farmers so much why is it that every trade deal her party did has been to the benrfit of other countries farmers
& why did Brexiteers in gov lie to farmers that they would keep the same subsidy in place designated for FARMERS that E.U gave them but they didn't?
If they are special case because they provide food , are medics who save lives, teachers who educate, transport workers who move goods and people around the country etc etc special too? Who’s not a special case ?
Isn't it more than slightly embarrassing for opposition MPs to be joining into a street demo?
Especially with some wealthy idiots cosplaying as farmers (e.g. Farage etc)
Is this IHT protest distracting from greater issues surrounding Brexit's effects on farming operations exporting into europe? Could more be done by the government in supporting farmers in adapting to climate change given the exceptionally poor run of crops we have seen due to wet weather?
Ask them why there is so much fuss about this when farmers can simply transfer title to their children early and seven years later no inheritance tax will be payable.
How about widening the debate- see this article by James Rebanks @herdyshepherd.bsky.social . Tories bear a lot of the responsibility for farmers disquiet.
I can’t get my head past this. Less than 500 farmers are going to be affected and many of those you could only loosely describe them as such… investors, tax avoiders… more likely. BBC Verified has got a good take on this bollox TBF.
Please explore the numbers. Numbers of farms affected against total number of registered farms, against total of actual working farms. Context is very important. They can always sign their property over to their heirs before death, having to only live a further 7 years.
Would reversing Brexit help?
Economist Richard Murphy put an excellent video on YouTube earlier, in which he argued that genuine farmers should be delighted that the farmland loophole should be closed- it will make farmland more affordable for new entrants, rather than a scam to reduce IHT for financiers..
In the absence of inheritance tax on farmers what would Victoria be proposing as an alternative to make up the shortfall? For Steve, I'd be keen to understand why there's been no public acknowledgement from Labour on the Brexit impact (as a reason why taxes are increasing to bridge this shortfall).
Is this fight worth the lost political capital? The govt will rely on farmers to deliver nature recovery at scale & that work will require huge trust and that is being squandered. See comments from James Rebanks et al.
Ask them to explain the changes- if they can’t they have no reason to be protesting and are jumping on a bandwagon, wasting our time and blocking Londons streets and preventing people from going about their daily business.
What is the tories alternative to getting the people who bought a farm like Clarkson purely to avoid IHT paying there fair share? Also if they can simply put it in a trust for 7 years then give it to their kids tax free *as long as they don't die* then why don't they just do that?
Forgive me if I struggle to empathise with those landowners worth over a million having to pay their fair share of tax. NHS, education and police etc have to be funded somehow. I'd rather the wealthy pay more tax than cutting benefits for the poorest. Landowners whose land is worth >£1m are wealthy.
Ask them if it's true that they only get paid £20 for wool from 100 sheep and that many sheep farmers only just break even and rely on Government subsidies for income.
Good on Riverford for doing this. https://stopfarmwashing.co.uk/, a campaign to create visibility around deceptive practices by UK supermarkets, Tesco being one of the worst offenders, plastering foods produced to lower standards outside the UK with bucolic branding. It's bullshit and it needs to stop.
Ask them what percentage of land was purchased by investors (56%) versus by farmers (46%). Why should investors be exempt from the full tax and only be required to pay 20% over 10 years once this tax is implemented? Don’t let Atkins try to mislead you!
Why, amongst non-service industries, does farming get so much support, subsidy and focus and is so little held to account for its economic and environmental damage?
Let's get into the numbers and some facts that this only affects a small percentage of big farmers. Let's also get into the harm Brexit caused farmers and maybe a side of Clarkson admitting he bought land to dodge inheritance like Dyson?
May I enquire the difference between a farmer, and a gentleman farmer?
Are farmers at risk of financial angst or is it, as I suspect, the gentleman farmers?
With up to £3m relief for a couple passing to a child working in the business & the 7 year rule how big an issue. If some extra relief mitigation requires it should require strong evidence of beneficiaries working on the farm. Should not U Turn on closing loop hole against rich people such as Dyson
? What alternate policy would they like to see in order to ensure the ARP is not utilised by the Uber wealthy to avoid IHT and capital gains and pay an equitable tax on their wealth gained in our society
If you give an animal (or human) a treat/perk, regularly, the animal (or human) will assume they have a right to that treat/perk.
We become so accustomed to a privilege that we expect it, as of right.
I want to know why the BREXIT March had 1 million people and virtually NO press coverage, and the Farmers 10,000 people march has had wall to wall coverage?
Yes. The Tories screwed the country for 14 years, creating a £22bn black hole, and Labour have shot themselves in the foot by gunning for the farmers not the supermarkets and their middlemen – in case neither are aware, it’s the farmers who grow and rear our food!
How about asking them to comment on ‘signing farm over to family 7 years before death’. No IHT no CGT for beneficiary.. worried farmers could tax plan just like the very wealthy.
Comments
Why do they expect the poorest, being hit hard, to pay for their privilege? We need farmers for (some of) our food, but they need us as consumers & as part of wider society too.
(I'll be honest this is one of those ideas where the name came first.)
Whatever you think of Labour's inheritance tax on farms...
Letting Jeremy Clarkson, Nigel Farage & Boris Johnson lead the way is INSANELY STUPID.
Clarkson just wants to dodge tax and the other two already ruined farming with Brexit.... Remember Fishing?!?
be affected”, why bother with this policy in the first place - if it’s unlikely to raise much tax
& why did Brexiteers in gov lie to farmers that they would keep the same subsidy in place designated for FARMERS that E.U gave them but they didn't?
Does she mean wealthy people like Jeremy Clarkson?
Who bought a farm?
To avoid paying tax?... 🤔
Especially with some wealthy idiots cosplaying as farmers (e.g. Farage etc)
Would reversing Brexit help?
B) Look at how this can be mitigated by gifting the land to your children.
Are farmers at risk of financial angst or is it, as I suspect, the gentleman farmers?
2. Why do we get to pay it, but they don't?
We become so accustomed to a privilege that we expect it, as of right.