In recent correspondence with the Chancellor on an appeal for her to look again at her family farm tax reforms, I highlighted new evidence from a report by the Centre for Analysis on Taxation which focused on on ‘’The Impact of Changes to Inheritance Tax on Farm Estates’. This report presented the first independent, evidence-based analysis of the impact of these planned reforms using HMRC Inheritance Tax data and proposed potential adjustments that “merit(ed) serious consideration”.
However, in the reply to my email, the Minister responsible for the UK tax system, Dan Tomlinson MP reiterated the government’s conviction that they have got “the balance right between supporting farms and businesses and fixing the public finances”. He highlighted aspects of CenTax’s report which supported the Government’s analysis.
But the National Farmers Union of Scotland have warned that the government’s proposed changes would have “severe and far-reaching consequences” for Scottish agriculture, that the current proposals would disproportionately affect working family farms more than diversified estates or landowners using agriculture as a peripheral activity. These changes also do not consider differences in Scotland for tenant farmers.
This response highlights to me that the UK Government just don’t get it. My MP inbox is full of emails from distressed and alarmed farmers, devastated at what these reforms to Inheritance Tax, APR and BPR will do to their family farms, many of which have been in the same family for generations.
I believe that the UK Government seem to have taken a rather pick n’ mix approach to the findings of the CenTax report from this summer which set out several proposals which would raise equal or greater tax revenue to the current proposed reforms, but better targeted.
With the Budget looming, time is running out for the UK Government to change course. Surely it would be better to pause these changes, consult fully with farming representatives and find a more workable and fairer solution that protects family farms, our domestic food security and investment in rural communities. The fight continues.
