Nov 20 2024 3 mins
It is becoming clear that the Prime Minister and Chancellor badly misjudged the level of militancy that farmers are capable of when they decided to apply inheritance tax to farms with a value of more than a million pounds from April 2026.
There is a significant disagreement between the Government, which believes that the tax will only apply to around 500 of the more than 200k farms in the UK per annum, and the farmers who consider the true number exponentially higher.
More than ten thousand farmers brought their protest to London yesterday, calling for Rachel Reeves to reverse her decision.
It is well known that farming is an industry where its proponents are “asset rich but cash poor”, meaning that while their farms are of a high value, the margins they make from their businesses are tiny compared to other sectors of the economy. Therefore, to try to find 20% of a farm’s value when to pay the tax when it is passed down the generations is likely to lead to many farms being broken up and sold.
It is unlikely that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have heard the end of the farmer's complaints.
Beyond Currency Market Commentary:
Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.
There is a significant disagreement between the Government, which believes that the tax will only apply to around 500 of the more than 200k farms in the UK per annum, and the farmers who consider the true number exponentially higher.
More than ten thousand farmers brought their protest to London yesterday, calling for Rachel Reeves to reverse her decision.
It is well known that farming is an industry where its proponents are “asset rich but cash poor”, meaning that while their farms are of a high value, the margins they make from their businesses are tiny compared to other sectors of the economy. Therefore, to try to find 20% of a farm’s value when to pay the tax when it is passed down the generations is likely to lead to many farms being broken up and sold.
It is unlikely that Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have heard the end of the farmer's complaints.
Beyond Currency Market Commentary:
Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.