Government urges to do the right thing and roll back ‘family business tax’ – The Irish News

Angry farmers reeling from Labor’s budget are calling on the government to quickly roll back what they describe as a “terrible” family tax on farms.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said Britain’s farmers and growers will take part in a massive lobbying effort by their MPs following the plans outlined on Wednesday.

According to the Budget documents, from April 2026, farmers will be able to claim a 100% exemption from inheritance tax on the first £1 million of combined agricultural and business assets, up to 50% above.

The government is “restricting the generosity of agricultural support” in an attempt to make the inheritance tax system “fairer”.

The country will also spend almost £600 million on flood defenses and agricultural projects in 2024/2025, but warned “it is necessary to review these plans” for the coming years.

NFU chairman Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers and growers are left reeling from the changes announced in the Budget which demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the UK agricultural sector is shaped and managed.”

He said current plans to change agricultural property lighting (APR) and commercial property lighting (BPR) “must be quashed quickly”.

Mr Bradshaw added: “Farmers are rightly angry and concerned about their future and the future of their family farms, after being reassured by ministers in the run-up to the Budget that no APR and BPR changes were on the table .

“The Treasury figures, which claim this will only affect one in four UK farms, are misleading.

“The £1 million cap on the April rate shows how little this government understands the sector. Very few viable farms would be worth less than £1 million, but many small farms and houses with a few acres rented out for grazing could be.

“The asset value of real food producing farms will be high, given the size they need to be to remain viable; but that is the value of the asset; it does not reflect its profitability, which is often, and increasingly, very low.

“It is clear that the government does not understand that family farms are not just small farms, and that just because a farm is an asset does not mean that those who work on it are rich.

‘I have said that every penny the Chancellor saves from this will come directly from the next generation having to break up their family farm. It simply shouldn’t happen.

“MPs must understand the consequences of these actions and that is why we are mobilizing our members for a massive lobby in the coming weeks.

“British farmers will ask their MPs to look them in the eye and tell them whether they support this.

“There is still time for the Government to accept that they have got it wrong, and my message to ministers is that they must do the right thing and roll back this terrible Family Farm Tax.”

The Conservative Party has claimed that farmers will have to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds under Labour’s inheritance tax plans.

Shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake warned Labor MPs planning to have a pint at a local pub and chat to farmers this weekend to ‘think again’, while Greg Smith, Conservative MP for Mid Buckinghamshire, described the budget as a ‘full frontal issue’. financial attack on our farmers”.

Liberal Democrat Rural Affairs spokesman Tim Farron had previously criticized changes to the farm property exemption, warning of a “death knell” for farmers.

The issue was raised repeatedly in the House of Commons on Thursday and Business Secretary Douglas Alexander defended the government’s inheritance tax reforms, saying “difficult and necessary choices” had to be made.