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Epoch Times
a day ago
- Business
- Epoch Times
MPs Call for Delay to Inheritance Tax Change to Protect ‘Vulnerable Farmers'
A cross-party committee of MPs has called on the government to delay changes to inheritance tax for farms until 2027. In its Efra said the delays would also allow 'vulnerable farmers' more time to seek professional advice. From April 2026, agricultural assets worth over £1 million will be subject to a 20 percent inheritance tax rate. This is half the usual 40 percent rate, but farms were previously exempt from inheritance tax. In its report, Efra raised concerns that the plans laid out in last year's Autumn Budget were made without a consultation, impact assessment, or affordability assessment. 'The lack of proper evaluation of the impact of these changes means that the scale and nature of its impact on family farms, land values, tenant farmers, food security and farmers in the devolved administrations is disputed and unclear. This comes with a considerable risk of negative unintended consequences,' the group of MPs said. Related Stories 3/26/2025 10/31/2024 As such, the reforms 'threaten to affect the most vulnerable,' including those who are older and whose farming is less profitable. The committee recommended postponing the announcement of final reforms to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) until October 2026, to come into effect in April 2027. Alternatives The Labour government had said it brought in the change to stop wealthy investors attempting to avoid paying inheritance tax by buying farmland, which also impacts the price and availability of land for new entrants into farming. The committee said that while it agrees in principle with reforming APR and BPR to 'close the loophole,' experts had proposed other methods to reform taxes which the government should consider. These include increasing the tax-free APR/BPR combined cap to £20 million, but introducing a predetermined 'clawback period,' during which time if any land is sold after being passed on, charges will be applied. This is similar to a proposal put forward in February by the National Farmers' Union. The union Closure of SFI 'Affected Trust' Efra also criticised the sudden closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFI) programme, which it said 'affected trust in the Government and has left many farmers without the funding they expected and at risk of becoming unviable in the period before the next scheme is introduced.' The SFI offered financial incentives to farmers to adopt environmentally-friendly land management practices aimed at improving soil health and water quality and supported actions that promote biodiversity, such as encouraging bees and other pollinators. There are currently around 37,000 SFI agreements in place. However, the scheme was Tractors are parked on Whitehall in Westminster in protest by farmers over the changes to inheritance tax rules in London, on Dec. 11, 2024. Yui Mok/PA Wire But earlier this week, the government made a Addressing MPs on Monday, minister for food security and rural affairs Daniel Zeichner blamed a message in the application system 'shown in error,' which promised that Defra would give farmers six weeks' notice if the department needed to close applications. The government has said it is planning to reform the SFI scheme. Rebuild Trust Efra committee Chairman Alistair Carmichael called on the government to 'take our recommendations seriously' in a bid to rebuild trust and confidence in the farming sector. The Liberal Democrat MP 'The Government, however, seems to be dismissing farmers' concerns and ignoring the strength of feeling evidenced in the months of protests that saw tractors Children ride toy tractors in Parliament Square as demonstrators attend a farmers rally in London, on Nov. 19, Epoch Times contacted the Treasury for comment, but the department did not respond. The government has A spokesperson had said: 'With 40 percent of agricultural property relief going to the 7 percent of wealthiest claimants, we made the decision to ensure the relief is fiscally sustainable. 'Around 500 claims each year will be impacted and farm-owning couples can pass on up to £3 million without paying any inheritance tax—this is a fair and balanced approach.'
Spectator
3 days ago
- Business
- Spectator
Rachel Reeves risks killing off the family business
Changes to how inheritance tax and trusts are treated for non-doms have already put the nation's finances on shakier ground – something I revealed in a cover story last month. Now, a new report suggests these anti-business Treasury policies may risk killing off Britain's family firms too. Fresh analysis by the CBI's economics consultancy, commissioned by Family Business UK, warns that these changes to inheritance tax could jeopardise more than 208,000 full-time jobs over the course of this Parliament. That's more than the entire construction workforce in London. The report says that as small firms retreat from long-term investment, the wider economic consequences could be severe. The government is planning to reform Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) – two long-standing mechanisms that can offer up to 100 per cent exemptions from inheritance tax on qualifying land and business assets.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
New book ‘Holler' tells the story of Appalachian climate activists
Protesters at an Mountain Valley Pipeline construction site in 2023. (Katie Myers | BPR) This coverage is made possible through a partnership between BPR and Grist, a nonprofit environmental media organization. The Mountain Valley Pipeline transports natural gas through West Virginia and Virginia. But for 10 years, climate activists and worried locals opposed it, even locking themselves to equipment and camping in the pipeline's path. Many were opposed specifically to the transportation of natural gas, which includes methane, a highly flammable fossil fuel with a large carbon footprint. A new graphic novel, Holler, released in May, tells the story. Denali Sai Nalamalapu, a Southwest Virginia-based climate activist and illustrator, spoke with BPR on what this fight meant for people who were involved and what it means now. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. Tell us a little about yourself and why you were drawn to the Mountain Valley Pipeline to begin with? I joined the pipeline fight to support, with communications and federal and congressional advocacy. As I started traveling more to the region, I got more connected to the community here that was fighting the pipeline and also to the mountains. I wanted to figure out different ways to tell the stories I was hearing, particularly stories of ordinary people who were just living their lives and then became pipeline resistors. And so I sat down with six people across the region that's impacted by the pipeline in Central Appalachia, and the book came to life from there. What did this pipeline mean, not only to the people in West Virginia that the pipeline directly impacted, but also to the broader Appalachian community? How did it unfold regionally? When the pipeline was first proposed, it was part of and continues to be part of a centuries-long history of massive extractive fossil fuel projects coming to the region. Part of what made it unique though, is that it is such a huge project, being three 303 miles long, going through all of West Virginia, through Southwest Virginia, into Southern Virginia, with extensions that threaten communities in Northern North Carolina. And it's methane gas, which is a highly flammable gas that's also contributing to climate change. It was such an intense, huge fight that came right after and during the fights against coal mining and specifically mountaintop removal in Central Appalachia. It did show up in this lineage of strong resistance in Appalachia that is very well known in this region, but continues to go overlooked outside of the region. 'Holler' is a graphic novel, which is a unique way to tell a character-driven story. Why did you choose the graphic novel format, and to explore the MVP through these six activists? All of that thinking was part of, how do I tell a story of the Mountain Valley Pipeline Fight with the voices of the resistors uplifted? One of them is pretty well known. Her name's Becky Crabtree, and she is known as the Grandma who locked herself to her Ford Pinto when her sheep farm was threatened by the pipeline. And the other is a quieter resistor named Paula Mann, who is a photographer who used her skills to document the way the pipeline threatened the woods that seven generations of her family have lived in. Part of who ended up being part of the book … were people who both had been part of the struggle and had been covered by the news, and who were the quieter resistors, and who were the younger resistors who were in college when they learned about the pipeline, and who were the people that were well into their 80s learning about it, and also diversity because I think central Appalachia gets thought of as this very white, very poor region that has no diversity. Oftentimes, the Monacan tribe and the other indigenous tribes in the Southeast don't get recognized as tribes and people who are continuing to fight and protect this land. The MVP ultimately was greenlit in 2024, and is continuing to make its way down through to North Carolina. Protesters may have the opportunity to carry these lessons forward. In 2020, the government approved an extension of the MVP into North Carolina called Southgate. Where does the pipeline fight go from here and what's happening now? It felt important to me that we did lose the fight, in a traditional way of deeming did you win or lose the pipeline fight, while also telling engaging and authentic stories of the community that was built through the pipeline fight and the people that were changed by the pipeline fight. And as we see the federal government in the U.S. and many powerful entities across the world not take climate change as seriously as we believe that they need to, we're going to have to define winning with more nuance than, did you absolutely stop the project or not? Denali Sai Nalamalapu is the author of the new graphic novel Holler, which is available from Timber Press. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Agriland
23-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
‘Exempt all farming businesses' from UK inheritance tax
Farming families with a long-term commitment to their businesses can be easily made exempt from the UK expanded inheritance tax measures. This was the clear views expressed by Co. Down-based financial planning specialist, David Hanna, who spoke at the official launch of Newry Show 2025. Hanna said: 'It's obvious that the current Westminster government does not understand farming.' According to Hanna, the expanded inheritance tax changes, referenced by the chancellor last October, are 'the most talked-about Revenue-related measures to have had an impact on farming over the past 40 years'. 'All agricultural businesses are asset-rich and cash-poor. As a consequence, many farming families are worried about their ability to actually pay the tax should they ever be faced with the need to so. 'And there is a ripple effect to be considered within all of this. Many farm businesses will not have the confidence to invest in the future of their businesses. 'We may also see a change in the way that banks deal with their farming clients.' The Newry-based financial consultant believes there is a very clear and concise way for the UK government to amend the new tax measures. 'There is an obvious option for the chancellor to exempt all faming businesses with a clear commitment to maintain the fabric of their businesses for the benefit of future businesses,' Hanna said. 'By taking this approach, she can focus her attention on those individuals and companies that view an investment in land as simply that: an opportunity to dodge the payment of inheritance tax.' Hanna is amongst a growing number of accountants and financial planning specialists who believe that the chancellor still has time to amend the agri-focussed tax changes she specified last autumn Meanwhile, a report by the UK government's Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee is calling on the UK government to delay announcing its final agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) reforms until October 2026, with the measures to come into effect in April 2027. MPs are saying that a pause in the implementation of the reforms would allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming. Such a development would also protect vulnerable farmers who, according to the report, would have more time to seek appropriate professional advice.
Daily Record
23-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Family farm inheritance tax changes slammed as "disastrous" by Perth and Kinross councillor
Bailie Claire McLaren said generational family farming businesses in Perth and Kinross - and across Scotland - were "reeling from this ill-informed tax" A Perth and Kinross councillor has slammed changes to family farm inheritance tax as "disastrous". At the 2024 Autumn Budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) would be reformed. The Strathtay ward councillor spoke out after a report by Westminster's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee called on the UK Government to delay implementing the changes and consider alternative reforms before justifying its final approach. Bailie Claire McLaren is the Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Agriculture and Rural Affairs. As part of the Autumn Budget, the UK Government announced that - as of April 6, 2026 - the 100 per cent inheritance tax relief on combined agricultural and business assets would be capped at £1 million. Thereafter landowners would access 50 per cent relief from inheritance tax and pay inheritance tax at a reduced effective rate up to 20 per cent, rather than the standard inheritance tax rate of 40 per cent. It would be payable in instalments over 10 years interest free. Full exemptions for transfers between spouses and civil partners would continue to apply. However, a cross-party report - published on May 16 by the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said delaying implementing the controversial reforms "would allow for better formulation of tax policy and provide the Government with an opportunity to convey a positive long-term vision for farming". The report raised concern reforms were announced without adequate consultation, impact or affordability assessments and "threaten to affect the most vulnerable". The MPs have called on the UK Government to delay announcing its final agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) reforms until October 2026, to come into effect in April 2027. Responding to the committee's report, Perth and Kinross councillor Claire McLaren said: "The UK Government's disastrous family farm tax has been a hammer blow to many farms up and down the country. "Generational family farming businesses in Perth and Kinross and throughout Scotland are reeling from this ill-informed tax. Despite the resilience of the sector, this ill-informed tax has brought the sector to its knees. It is hoped this report has a positive impact with alternative approaches coming forward. "The Scottish Liberal Democrats have been urging the UK Government from the very start to axe the family farm tax and protect those farmers who have already been failed so badly by the Conservative Party's unfair trade deals, rocketing bills and plunging incomes. "It's about time the UK Government started listening to farmers — and that starts by admitting they were wrong and ditching the family farm tax."
