Farmers are protesting against tax because that’s what they like to do – according to an expert who used to work for them, and according to the facts themselves, it seems.
Richard Murphy of Funding the Future used to work as an accountant for farmers, back in the day, half a century ago. He says they were complaining about their taxes even then – decades ago; it’s what they like to do because by nature they are miserable.
Apparently they do have reasons to be – just not the reasons we’ve been told.
I know. Quelle surprise! Let’s hear what he has to say:
Farmers are not currently making enough money to be viable, simply as a business.
So why are they complaining about Inheritance Tax – with a big demonstration in Westminster today (Tuesday, November 19, 2024)?
Farmers have lost subsidies due to Brexit; they give their produce to large food manufacturers who take huge profits before paying them; and the food that is manufactured then goes to supermarkets that also take a large profit while keeping the prices they pay as low as they can.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
So farmers should be angry at the government for not protecting them against the food manufacturers and the supermarkets, right?
It is also possible to say that if they’re not making money from using the land, then the land is worthless and they shouldn’t be paying Inheritance Tax on it.
But farmland changes hands for significant amounts of money. This is because people have been buying it to make use of the Inheritance Tax loophole that existed before October’s Budget, allowing owners of farming land and assets to escape that tax.
So farmland is now a financial instrument, being used to reduce tax bills.
And real farmers should be delighted that Inheritance Tax is being levied on farmland because it can no longer be used for financial purposes by rich opportunists.
It would only have a value for farming purposes – but for farming purposes it clearly has no value at all and may be passed on without triggering the tax.
This would have the knock-on effect of making farming affordable for people who want to become farmers.
In fact, then, all the real farmers have to do is sit still, wait, and do their best not to die for a while.
This is because it will probably take a few years for the financial whizz-kids and opportunists to realise that the jig is up and start divesting themselves of the farmland, looking for another tax dodge in which to sink their cash.
This will drive the price of farmland through the floor, making it possible for the (real) farmers to demonstrate that they don’t have assets meeting the threshold of the Inheritance Tax that Rachel Reeves has imposed. They won’t have to pay it, and aspiring farmers will be able to afford to get into the industry.
Seen that way, Reeves – and Labour – has done farmers an enormous service. And the demonstrators in Westminster would be better-off going home.
AFTERTHOUGHT: What really annoys me about this is that, once again, we are being fed a pack of lies by the media.
Look at this clip from Sky News:
The claim is that people with assets worth more than £1.5 million may have to pay the new Inheritance Tax – 49 per cent of farmers. But this isn’t true, because the tax is only payable on assets worth more than £3 million – not counting the £1 million included in tax relief.
We are all being misled by the media – especially farmers. I wonder why. Could it be that some TV and newspaper executives have cash squirrelled away in farmland?
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Farmers are protesting against tax because that’s what they like to do
Farmers are protesting against tax because that’s what they like to do – according to an expert who used to work for them, and according to the facts themselves, it seems.
Richard Murphy of Funding the Future used to work as an accountant for farmers, back in the day, half a century ago. He says they were complaining about their taxes even then – decades ago; it’s what they like to do because by nature they are miserable.
Apparently they do have reasons to be – just not the reasons we’ve been told.
I know. Quelle surprise! Let’s hear what he has to say:
Farmers are not currently making enough money to be viable, simply as a business.
So why are they complaining about Inheritance Tax – with a big demonstration in Westminster today (Tuesday, November 19, 2024)?
Farmers have lost subsidies due to Brexit; they give their produce to large food manufacturers who take huge profits before paying them; and the food that is manufactured then goes to supermarkets that also take a large profit while keeping the prices they pay as low as they can.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
So farmers should be angry at the government for not protecting them against the food manufacturers and the supermarkets, right?
It is also possible to say that if they’re not making money from using the land, then the land is worthless and they shouldn’t be paying Inheritance Tax on it.
But farmland changes hands for significant amounts of money. This is because people have been buying it to make use of the Inheritance Tax loophole that existed before October’s Budget, allowing owners of farming land and assets to escape that tax.
So farmland is now a financial instrument, being used to reduce tax bills.
And real farmers should be delighted that Inheritance Tax is being levied on farmland because it can no longer be used for financial purposes by rich opportunists.
It would only have a value for farming purposes – but for farming purposes it clearly has no value at all and may be passed on without triggering the tax.
This would have the knock-on effect of making farming affordable for people who want to become farmers.
In fact, then, all the real farmers have to do is sit still, wait, and do their best not to die for a while.
This is because it will probably take a few years for the financial whizz-kids and opportunists to realise that the jig is up and start divesting themselves of the farmland, looking for another tax dodge in which to sink their cash.
This will drive the price of farmland through the floor, making it possible for the (real) farmers to demonstrate that they don’t have assets meeting the threshold of the Inheritance Tax that Rachel Reeves has imposed. They won’t have to pay it, and aspiring farmers will be able to afford to get into the industry.
Seen that way, Reeves – and Labour – has done farmers an enormous service. And the demonstrators in Westminster would be better-off going home.
AFTERTHOUGHT: What really annoys me about this is that, once again, we are being fed a pack of lies by the media.
Look at this clip from Sky News:
The claim is that people with assets worth more than £1.5 million may have to pay the new Inheritance Tax – 49 per cent of farmers. But this isn’t true, because the tax is only payable on assets worth more than £3 million – not counting the £1 million included in tax relief.
We are all being misled by the media – especially farmers. I wonder why. Could it be that some TV and newspaper executives have cash squirrelled away in farmland?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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