Big changes in the 2024 Budget have led to real anger on UK family farms. What's going on?
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- In last week's Budget, the new Labour Government introduced revised tax rates for Inheritance Tax. From April 2026, the 100% Agricultural Property relief will only be on the first £1,000,000, after that the rate will be 20%. This video explains why this is going to be so damaging to UK family farms.
We’re a 100 acre family farm in SouthWest Cornwall.
Because land values and property prices here are extremely high and our income is very low, it’s about the worst case.
There’s no way we or our son could ever afford to settle the tax burden on passing it on.
We’re both in our early-mid sixties now and both we and our son are absolutely f^cked.
As for a number of other aspects of Reeves’ budget, she appears to have put a bullseye on so many other low income and defenceless sectors of society, while protecting huge corporations and investors, that it beggars belief.
I’m not angry, I’m absolutely bloody incandescent!🤬
Why can you not gift the farm to your son early in order to avoid the tax? Does the 0% tax after 7 year rule not apply to this?
@@isolationstation5157 exactly … planning … it’s what we all have to do.
@@isolationstation5157is it at all possible to gift 10+ million £ with 5-10 k a year 🤷♂️
@@isolationstation5157 if you benefit from the land or property then it is an invalid gift.
Plus there maybe other taxes in changing ownership
@@isolationstation5157 By doing this would it not trigger a CGT issue that could create a far worse situation?
Imagine this happening in France!... they'd soon put their government back under their rock 💯
It's already happened in Holland but govt used nitrogen as an excuse to rob the land.
Paris would be full of tractors by now...and manure.
I don't think farmland is that valuable in France. However you can't easily buy it if you don't plan on using it for farming, even though we do have some rich people buying it and having a couple of horses or something like that.
I've just looked into it and there are inheritance taxes to pay when inheriting a farm. However there are ways to minimize them, for starters a farm is a company, and companies can be inherited using a tax "loophole" that lowers the taxes due. There is also something specific for farms. But overall I wouldn't be surprised a 10 million euros farm would lead to a more than 1 million euros tax bill. In France a 10 million farm is probably a wheat farm generating millions a year...
Historically/legally the French divide their farms between their children, which is why French farms are on average smaller than UK farms.The good news is that this demonstrates UK farmers can start to pay a relatively tiny amount of inheritance tax and allow their children to continue farming. Maybe keep this quiet during the protests. It gets worse because French farmers also pay inheritance tax on farmland too. Don't mention that the French also avoid VAT on private schools.
@@aesma2522land is a fraction of the value in France check out farming life at la forge Laura and declan will explain how they sold 9 acres in Ireland to 1200 acres in France
I think it’s fine to be taxed if the person inherits and sells but it ludicrous to tax them if they are continuing to work the farm.
Exactly this!
I have no family connections with farming but have been absolutely shocked since the day of the Budget. Thank you so much for explaining things so clearly. No spin or smokescreens. Just the truth. I'm most grateful, and now I'm even more shocked.
I'll leave this here from a report by the BBC who aren't exactly a friend of our Rachel.
"There were a total of 462 inherited farms valued above £1m in 2021-22, according to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC):" Farmers being asked to pay half of what we ordinary tax payers pay when we wish to pass on our inheritance to our kids.
This is probably what Bill Gates discussed with Starmer in Downing Street when he visited him last month. He knows lots about the subject being the largest farmland owner in the US. We'll just end up with unsustainable farming practices owned by degnerate billionaire globalists.
The average farmer revenue in profit every year is only 45000 so they don’t have the money
Side note. Inheritence tax doesn't happen to corporate farms. This is an attack on family farms.
They want the land and farms in the hand of the government like the old soviet Russia.
VERY GOOD POINT.
Unfortunately, it will
I believe inheritance tax relief should only be available to full time farmers and their full time successors on the farms they work and there should limits. Sir Dyson in my view with 250 employees should pay inheritance tax like everyone else as his his employees have too. In Ireland full farmers can leave or transfer to each of their children 4 million Euro of land, stock, machinery, farmhouse, entitlements and working capitial. When you take valuations which are very subjective this can be 5 million plus I think this is about I think the farmers in the Cotswolds are doing something wrong, probably should keep sheep or dairy and less machines, because lots of Irish farmers are making 60,000 euro on on much less land. Diary are disappointed that their income is back to 1600 per Ha. The direct grants are better there.
This is the point……that is why it’s so unfair. Let’s tax corporate farms every 60 years…..
Everyone needs to share this video, spread the word.
Well done Harry
17.48 in "then I think land will end up in the wrong hands" its no coincedence the day before the budget Starmer & Reeves had a meeting with William H Gates and his Gates foundation CEO.
Starmer quote: "It was great to meet with Bill Gates this week.
We discussed how the UK can support global health development and use the net zero goal to invest in science and technology, creating new jobs.
Labour will boost growth and protect the environment with our Green Prosperity Plan."
Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States.
In total, Gates owns approximately 242,000 acres of farmland with assets totaling more than $690m. Wake up Harry..
I think the answer to the entire conundrum lies in the sharp rise in recent years. Bankers buying farmland to avoid IHT. And rich industrialists whose business is not in Singapore...
How do you fix that? Because it's making farmland completely ridiculous. Anyway, I wrote to my MP, sharing this. I recommend others do too.
Exactly this. I’m very disappointed Harry completely neglected to cover this argument.
If the farm land is £2.5 million the animals and machinery is still another 2-3 million. That’s not pushed up by speculation or tax planning. Government would still want 400k plus on that. It’s madness.
@@thecranksterWhere Harry lives Grade 1 agricultural land is going for £35K an acre that price is not driven by an industry that is marginally profitable, that is driven by the wealthy wanting to live somewhere nice while avoiding inheritance tax.
This whole policy smells of trying to fix just this
I don't know how a reduction in land price would affect farmers finances but listening to harry here it sounds like it won't
I think there needs to be a "family farm" clause plus a raise from that 1m
@@LauraDempsey I don't think he neglected to, the programme is pretty full, you can only cover so much IMO.
A farm around me in Hampshire was sold 3 years ago to a big corporation. Within 6 months my workshop rent was increased 350%…. as were all the other small businesses in the “business park” (knackered old farm sheds actually). The positives are that they are clearly working the asset more intensively as field margins have deduced from 10m to 2m wide, miles of hedges grubbed out, previously unworked fields put into crop (obviously using more advanced and expensive machinery), a massive grain dryer built and garages/buildings circa 2 football pitches constructed. Negative side effects are footpaths re-routed and tractor blasting down the back lane’s irresponsibly because they appear to be short term contractors that don’t know nor care whereas the old farmer lived in the community and understood dangerous blind corners etc.
And clever tax accountants who make sure they pay very little tax and of course as a business they can manage inheritance through corporation law - next they will shut the farm and build a 'solar farm' 😢
@@charlesmoss8119 well there is a clue in their name RedBrown… literally 🤪
But Harry, you make comparisons about the value of the land, but the reason the land is so valuable is exactly because it's being used as a tax planning mechanism. The value of this land should soon start to reflect it's actual value in terms of food production making it far, far more affordable for those that want to expand their farms or enter the industry. It should also lower the IHT bill because the value is now normalised.
Completely agree my family farm has a return of 0.5% on the value of the farm so it will take almost 20yrs profit to pay the tax bill it’s completely stupid
You got your maths wrong, you will need to pay tax on the profit before you can use it to pay IHT. If you sell land, you will need to pay capital gains…..it’s much worse than you think
And the next generation and the next
It's supposed to be completely stupid. The WEF wants to make family farms completely inviable. It's all part of The Great Taking (see book and video of that name by David Webb). Be under no illusion, there is a plan to take family farms into corporate ownership. Act accordingly.
Gift your land (not the house) to your kids,
7 years before you die.
After 7 years 0% of IHT
5-6 yrs 16%
4-5 yrs 24%
3-4 yrs 33% of IHT
Gift the land (not the house) to your kids,
7 years before dye.
After 7 years 0% of IHT
5-6 yrs 16%
4-5 yrs 24%
3-4 yrs 33% of IHT
As an accountant, it's been an 'interesting' week. It isn't just APR that's under the cosh, it's the same for other businesses with BPR (business property relief). This seems to have gone largely unnoticed fir some reason. It's an utter disgrace. I act for a few farms, many people assume all farmers are rich, it is absolutely not the case.
@@LeighW1973 can you explain to me please why a £30million farm that generates 30k a year is even a thing ? I'm not versed in this but I'm sure you can easily make more than 1% in property and investments ? You could sell 1/4 of it and then buy tons of property and rent it out and make more than 30k a year and just chill in your big farmhouse that's been paid off and save up
@@LeighW1973 i agree, there are many multigenerational firms that will end up being sold to big corporations that don’t pay IHT.
Also as your job is to avoid people paying tax, what are the main loopholes that you see being exploited unethically that should be looked at?
@@fraserwright9482grow up…….i employ accountants to make sure I pay the correct tax.
the removal of BPR for trading companies is also a huge issue. Many farms operate as corporates anyway so their shareholders need to rely on BPR. APR relates to land held as an individual or partnership which is getting rarer these days. Labour totally clueless on all business matters.
I think it is more of a run on Rich people buying farms or large holdings to avoid inheritance tax and the farmers are being punished without thought. Clarkson has been quite open and smug about his farm being inheritance free, which may have spurred the idea
There’s a vacuum cleaner guy, who’s purchased large swaths of Lincolnshire and Norfolk for that exact reason…
Side note… he’s purchased lots and lots of family farms which people seemingly have been happy to sell to him.. also many agri merchants have gone under around here, as he has the purchasing power to deal directly with equipment manufactures..
This is going on and that is why land prices have risen to about 11k per acre. I do know of several horse farms in the area that are owned by wealthy people and only lose money. But, previously if you can operate under the pretence of commercial farming, no IHT.
This is why they did it. You have them to thank
It will be interesting to see if the prices of forest land and hotels with a functioning restaurant go up. Are these not also used as vehicles to avoid inheritance tax?
@@malcomthewasp the other problem with Dyson buying so much is that, in turn, it has raised the land values. So it’ll be harder for genuine people wanting to be farmers to get started and more tempting for farmers to sell. It’d be interesting to see what percentage of land he is farming a crop on too considering it’s 36000 acres he owns. It certainly seems he’s in it for tax dodging and experimenting rather than feeding people.
It begs the question as to why the land value doesn’t reflect the economic value of the farming operation?
APR?
because the green belt and general protections of urbanising the countryside is very murky and grey. land that could only be used for a low return activity would naturally be priced very low, but the fact that it might not always be so and could one day get permission to build houses on etc makes it very valuable from a speculation point of view.
the attractiveness of the asset class for dodging tax has also been its own worst enemy as people looking to park their riches pile in with their ill-gotten gains and push values well past what farming activity could justify itself. but no one complains when their asset is appreciating in value under their feet, only when that value is taxable is everyone up in arms. taking back that which should never have been is not a very popular telling of the tale compared to the sob story version
if the government offered farmers the ability to irreversibly declare their farm land as forevermore only for farming, to the extent that the land became valued only as farmland, i wonder how many would write down their 'on paper' assets like that? to ensure that it could be handed down only as farmland under the threshold etc etc rather than a pile of many millions they want to debate should be tax free
Simple answer is that they ain't makin any more! Some truth in that.
Another good video, all the figures laid out. 100% agree with you. Maybe it is time to hold back on supplying. I'm sure they'll get pissed off when they've had no milk for a few days..
🚜"NO FARMS, NO FOOD, NO FUTURE"🚜
Big up from Germany 👍
Inheritance tax should be abolished right across the board.
It's a killer of small business families.
Even for private families. The tax has been paid many times already on the income.
Meanwhile large tech companies get away with.. well I dont know.
Its bloody tyrannical and medi-evil.
In Germany only 15% of the business get inheritance taxed. If the children continue the business under the same circumstances. Farms can get up to 100% exemption. Stop spreading misinformation.
Starmer and the WEF are using Inheritance Tax deliberately to make family businesses inviable.
@@pnsp33 Perhaps that should be the criteria - if circumstances stay the same, remove the tax, but do it for all SMEs.
Bless you Harry.
Keep up the good work.
Very well put sir.
I am also a farmer.
The true ramifications of this have not been considered. The agricultural supply and support sector are also going to feel the effects of this.
Labour will destroy this country, they have already lost the next election
Sadly it’s not just farmers, it’s pretty much every privately owned SME in the country! Not surprised, this Government has absolutely no business experience within their fold, they’re all civil servants!
Who needs business experience when you've got a self-authorised monopoly on the legal initiation of lethal violence?
@@tombley5760 On what…?
they are getting a 50% reduction. How have the Tories supported business over the past 14 years?
Most other people are angry about food banks, NHS waiting lists and crap education.
They want to destroy the middle class and private property ownership
They're just helping their friends in Black Rock but up family farms.
Thanks Harry. Yet again, you take what is not only a very complex item but also in this case, very emotionally charged, and you present it in a way that's understandable, compassionate and heart felt. Really enjoy you sharing with us your insights in to the world of farming. Both you and your mate Mr Clarkson, continue to do the sector proud. Cheers. Chris.
As usual a very thoughtful and well researched video on a fundamentally important subject that is critical to the future of every farmer and UK resident.
It's not that well researched because the numbers are up for debate.
I fear it's land clearance for housing and solar, unfortunately, and by clearing our custodians of the countryside out of there living, whilst they can generate a tax income from the destruction of farming, they believe this is acceptable. The misunderstanding of asset value required, v/s yearly income, was so well explained. Unfortunately, above the intelligence of those that should be building a better country, not dismantling it.
Most farmers are happy to sell for housing developments AFAIk. Planning permission is the problem.
The Communists are implementing Holodomor 2.0. Unfortunately, most people don't read history books, so history will repeat itself.
Yup
Just a way to force people to sell.
@@OOpSjm Yes!
It's not above their intelligence; but they have zero interest in building a better country. In fact, they want to destroy it and they are already well on their way to doing it. They don't think like we do. They have a plan to take all small businesses into corporate ownership.
Brilliantly explained!
Great video Harry. You've really helped with explaining this mess created by our wonderful government. Many thanks 👍🏼
Great comment, more please
Thank you for educating us regarding UK situation.
You've only had half an education, there is a whole other side to this story.
this is terrible , we need to support the farmers of the uk . this government needs to go .
I didn't vote for them. Seems the majority in the country wants this. Or were too stupid to realise the consequences.
I guess the question is, if the land is worth way more than the profit that can be generated, then something else is impacting the value of the land ? What is that ? Speculating? Change of use? Other people hiding their cash from inheritance tax liabilities?
it's 100% rich people buying farms and land to tax dodge, which is what is actually hurting farmers as well as pushing up landprices hurting them more. This law stops them and will also drop land prices.
@@evulclownno it won’t they have it tied up in trust, this is about forcing small farmers off their land so that it can be bought up and turned into housing, we have pictures of the pm meeting with black rock ceos and bill gates who have bought up huge chunks of land in the USA.
@@evulclownnope supply and demand determines value, rich people making an investment will make money regardless because land is a finite resource in a small country like England
@@spearfisherman308 nah, why lie?
@@evulclown it's not a lie farmers got their land through inheritance when it was cheaper at the time of their ancestors but the average wage is still relatively low so they cannot afford the tax.
I know nothing about this business but I always follow your other channel. Thank you for explaining it. I only hope most of the country see this video. It’s absolutely disgusting but this lot are systematically destroying the country, same as the last lot. They have no understanding of business generally and as someone self employed for 25 years it’s made me question whether it’s worth it anymore.
A very clear message, thanks for sharing Harry.
Well done Harry. Totally agree. Lets hope the general public can get behind the british farmer.
Farmers should get behind the general public and pay their share.
@@integralevideo The alternative was to tax the uber wealthy, but perish the thought…eh?
Fixed that for you, no charge.
@@robm.4512 They are taxing the uber wealthy, this law is to tax super rich people who have been buying up farms and land to avoid paying tax... This has resulted in land prices skyrocketing and pushing farmers out of their industry. Well now this tax loophole is closed there is less incentive for them to buy the land and the prices will drop letting farmers survive.
The very rich man, harry, making this video was one of the rich people who bought farm land to dodge tax. He owns a car magazine and has another channel for his expensive cars. Won't know that by watching just this video though.
Well done Harry, the voice of reason. I'm not a farmer but have a lot of friends who are ; this is a continuation of the old class war.
Exactly, the very very rich and very very privileged want to stay that way.
James Dyson owning 25,000 acres purely to avoid tax is the root to this tax
According to the Sunday Times, Dyson paid around £156m in taxes in the UK last year.
and took his work abroad post Brexit
This talk in the comments about tax dodging and rich people is a story to sell this new law to the public at large. It is a side issue. Inheritance tax is a way to keep people poor, born poor, die poor. Everybody starts from zero, and the idea of a "family" is thwarted by economic means.
Governments are clueless. Literally. I wish you and all the other farmers well Harry. In fact I may join you all in London this month too, just need to change some existing diary commitments.
A common issue in Wales is the amount of farms left with no productivity. People inherit them tax free and then just sit on them without generating output from the land. A tax would mean that those taking on the farm are more likely to be committed to generating revenue from the land. Ie, if you want to take on the farm, you cant afford to let it sit doing nothing.
I'm not in favour of the tax, but I can see an argument for implementing it outside of it just being a cash grab.
Nope rich people will buy even more land as farmers sell and companies like black rock will flip to companies that build housing.
Great summary Harry - couldn't agree more and as a non-farmer in a rural town I would fully support any action farmers choose to take.
Glad you mentioned the idea of tapering - it IS unjust and I think totally wrong that a small number of very wealthy people can avoid tax on thousands of acres - that's not about 'politics of envy' - it's about fairness. As you say they'd probably just avoid it another way sadly, but principles matter.
For ordinary family farmers though this is devastating and, let's hope, between now and 2026 the government will come to appreciate the need for change. Keep talking!
Excellent video Harry, covers the topic very well.
"I think the Labour Government are deeply mistaken, have been very badly advised" HARRY that is an INCREDIBLY well MANNERED thing to say. Personally as a blue collar TOWNIE my belief is currently BEGGERED at the actions of the current crop of "people" in Westminster. Thank you for this video.
My farm has been in the family for over 300 years in Virginia. Harry put it very well when he talked about the nature of the relationship between the land and the owner and its heritage of so many generations which I can attest to being a life time duty but also an honor. The war on the family farm is out of vindictiveness and spite. I hope everyone will go to the march in London this coming Tuesday! Deo Vindice
Where did that land come from and who owned it when it got taken by your ancestors? Who worked that land for most of its history? What a heritage indeed, how dare a government ask you to pay tax to help upkeep the society you benefit from and live in like everyone else.... You have massive amounts of land given to you for free by your parents and are basically a lord who should be exempt from such trivialities! 😉
Should be 100% exempt from IHT as long as the farm remains in the family. If it is sold in the following 25 years, IHT should be clawed back at the time of the sale.
But I guess if a farm is sold later or at any time it would attract Capital Gains Tax anyway on Sale so you surely couldn't have IHT and Capital Gains applied together ..
@@TT_1221 IHT is 40% and CGT will be 24%. Would be possible to charge the extra 16% in this scenario.
Define “family” …?
@@IverKnackerov Offspring, sibling, or their issue. This is the natural way of farming families staying on the 'home' farm.
Why? So the UK tax payers prop up your poorly managed nepotism with massive amounts of land and paying no tax back to a society you benefit from and live in?
Don't worry it's only 20% for farmers, the rest of the UK pays 40% so we're still propping you up.
This budget is a disgrace. Difficult to watch and just makes me angry.
Its not a budget its UN AGENDA 2030 for sustainable development.
yes prioritising the low paid, people on the NHS waiting list, the 2mn food banks rather than Harry, Clarkson and Dyson with estates worth more than 3mn which they have ten years, to pay, pay half what all other businesses have to and can avoid it by transferring the farm to his family beforehand.
The entire point is to force family farms onto the market to be bought by and folded into massive crony corporations
My estate is worth about £3 million at the moment. My children will pay £1 million in inheritance tax on this basis.
If I was a farmer they would pay nothing. Funny that farmers save a £1 million in inheritance tax compared to the rest of us and they are still whining and moaning. Moooooo.
@@Xyzabc998 It is amazing that very very wealthy and privileged people expect to pay less/no tax and VAT compared to most other people and think this is OK.
I loved the line that James Dyson avoiding inheritance tax on over £500 million "could be seen as annoying".
This demonstrates such an extreme level of self importance.
Thank you Harry! I'm not a farmer but am (almost!) as angry as you at this shortsighted and wholly unworkable policy. I've always tended to live near farms, as a kid loved helping out with hay bailing, and remember my father always telling me, 'Don't ever mess with a farmer, son....'
Keep fighting Harry 🚜💪
Very well said Harry.
Wish the regular British public could all hear this video.
Keep up the good work.
with the average house in england being worth 305k and inheritance tax starting at 325k and most folk paying 40% rather than 20% they're not going to have a lot of sympathy for the farmers sitting on massive assets
With you on this Harry.
Guard and protect our farmers bless them all
Harry, very well explained. As you mentioned it is hobby farmers who use the farm as a tax wrapper to protect their wealth. They do just enough to be seen as a farmer
Feed the Country your entire life and get completely screwed for doing it,how disgraceful,This Government needs ousting!
Oh give over, they do it for the money. Plenty fot hem are more than willing to sell to developers for housing or solar farms. I've run a small business for over 30yrs, I'd like to hand it down to my children so explain why I should pay Inheritance tax and yet farmers should be 100% exempt?.Farmers receive taxpayers money via subsidies and have done for decades. In the 1980's they were paid to grub out hedgerows to increase yields, in the 90's they were paid to plant hedge rows. Many of them are more than happy to sell out for £millions to developers or solar farms. They are hypocrites.
@AdrianSams and if they sell they pay a boat load of CGT. Now just because they have some land next to exsiting housing developments that could potentially be built on, they have to pay IHT on this inflated land value
Farms make between 0.5 and 1% return, so a 3mill farm might make 30K per year.....
@@inh415 If I have a "boat load" of silver/gold bullion That I've invested in over my lifetime and sell I also pay CGT. Stop whinging, it's pathetic. If I hand my business down to my kids they pay IH tax. Farmers are NOT forced to farm, they choose to do it, it's a business so if they no longer enjoy the job then sell up.
In 1989 New Zealand abolished farming subsidies and people like you said it would ring the death knell of family farms in New Zealand and yet today in NZ 95% of the farms are still run by the same families that ran them in 1989.
My point is Framers are serial whingers, quite happy to receive tax money from people who earn far less than they do through subsidies.Yet you are saying it's not fair that farmers pay Inheritence tax on land they are inherit/given whilst the rest of us have to suck it up and pay. Fcuk off with the hard luck/not fair nonsense.
@@inh415 The vat majority of Farmers/businesses in general choose to show they only make a small profit. I've been in business since 1986 so don't pull the wool over my eyes mate.
I was talking to a Business owner today who I do work for. He told me the Budget will cost him an extra £20,000 pa in Ntaional Insurance increases alone. He runs a small business and yet he is pragmatic and just carries on. Doesn't whinge and moan at every increase in costs like Farmers do.
The NFU did a survey just before the election where 60% of those polled intended to vote Labour. They reaped what they sowed,literally. They should have voted
Reform. Suck it up Buttercups.
I blame your neighbour Jeremy and James Dyson . If the land doesn’t earn an income the land value is too high .
Yeah, if these people didn't game the system to avoid paying tax none of this would be necessary.
According to the Sunday Times, James Dyson paid an estimated £156m in taxes last year in the UK. Supermarkets have already announced Labour's budget is going to push up the price of food and drink. I'm sure that will impact you a lot more than Dyson.
@@bw1376 and? that's less than he should pay, we all pay tax he proportionally pays less.
Also this topic is not every day tax, it is to avoid inheritance tax, aka when he kicks the bucket his multi million empire pays £0 to be passed on while the rest of the UK pays 40%. And in order to abuse this tax loophole hes bought up farm land, pricing actual farmers out of the market with land value rising...
@@evulclown Think we've got more chance getting rid of the rotten tax-obsessed Labour Party before Clarkson or Dyson kickinf the bucket. When will politicians start paying tax on their the donations and gifts they receive? Starmer should have paid £48,000.
Harry great video, really sad to see what is happening to family farms
Yeah, this government is in thrall to big business and, dare I say, big farmer.
Another excellent video on this serious subject. There is space, though, for a little humour, the motor sport inspired slip of the tongue at 46 seconds🙌
There needs to be more focus on farmers vs landowners
why?
@@londo776 IHT is of no relevance to tenant farmers, que the comments if the landowner sells the tenant will los their farm etc blah blah most are under Acts anyway. A land owner buys land as an investment a farmer farms it.
As if metropolitan London gives a stuff about anything rural, their ignorance is staggering and frightening in equal measure.
That goes both ways. I don't expect farmers are thinking about the inheritance tax on fairly ordinary houses in London that people want to pass on to their children.
This government is trying to destroy farming. Well said Harry
Their efforts aren't contained to just farming!
This government will destroy everything it can.......they always do.
God, I feel so sorry for the farming community.
@@themekfrommars They are ruining the country i agree with you
Conservatives would have done the same too, vote Reform next time.
The gov has it's orders and know exactly what to do, they only have a short time to implement destruction before 2030
Great presentation Harry, thankyou for explaining the situation in a way that non farmers can understand. I agree something has to happen prior to the implementation of this ridiculous scheme, personally I hope it's in the form of a general election.
Well said… and you’re damn well right! Also, well done to hanging on to the garden shovel for the hole post 👍😀☘️
Harry, couldn’t agree more. Love both your channels. But Reeves didn’t stop at the savaging of farmers. IHT now on inherited private pensions, at 40%. That will cost my kids dearly. Public sector? Nada.
The farm/land has no value until it is sold, and at that point and only at that point should it be subject to tax. If Labour, or any government for that matter cannot understand that, we are in trouble.
Perhaps the banks that specialise in farming need to join the farmers to challenge this ludicrous tax change.
This is the obvious solution. No tax is due all the time the farm is active. If the kids inherit the farm and decide to sell it off for redevelopment then tax them on the proceeds of the sale.
@@chiefsilverback Solution to what? I think you missed the point of the change. It is meant to bankrupt the small farmers so they are forced to sell their land to government endorsed giant corporations. This is THE PERFECT solution.. :D
Lots of things are taxed without sale. Tax is merely a mechanism for the government to make money whilst ecouraging certain behaviours and discouraging others. Lots of reasons to disagree with the policy, but that isn't one.
Everyone else in the UK that needs to pay 40% inheritance tax at a far lower threshold than is being proposed for you (£1,500,000 - £3,000,000 before paying 20% instead of 40% over 10 years) don't matter of course...
It's okay we'll just pay to prop you up and rich people who buy farms as a tax loophole, don't worry.
@@evulclown close the loop hole. If the farm has been in continuous use for XX years, and remains in continuous use for YY years after inheritance then no tax.
As Harry points out in this video, a £5,000,000 'asset' may only turn £100,000/profit, so it would take 10 years of profit to pay off the inheritance tax, and what does the farmer live on for that decade?
If you inherit £5,000,000 in cash it's very easy to count off 20% of it and pay the tax bill, but you can't just pull 20% of the value out of working farm.
I'm sorry that it's such a surprise. When you said the return on capital is poor, and that it's not the farmers fault that the value of the land has gone up. I think that's the point. The value of the land has gone up, mainly due to speculation about planning etc, and you're right, they aren't farming. But there's also inflation in land values due to avoidance of inheritance tax - Dyson isn't farming his land. Labour are trying to target those who own the land but don't do anything with it. It seems to me like they are hoping if dyson etc have to sell the land, but 2026 april, land values would have fallen so much that the actual inheritance tax bill would be minimal. Especially if it's net assets, and mortgage debt would count against it.
I want to go back to your poor return on capital point. Working the land makes no money. Speculating on the land does. And that is, I think, the issue. One person's land wealth is another young farmers land unaffordability. If land values drop precipitously, yes there might be fewer family farms but they could also be more farmers overall!
I wonder how you know what Dyson is doing with the land? And thinking that Dyson will pay any inheritance tax is naive in the extreme.
@@martinjagfansmith you're right, i don't know what dyson is doing with the land! i'm assuming he's not farming because as harry says, farming makes no money. and yes i agree that dyson avoiding inheritance tax is ridiculous and we need to do what we can to stop it
@@TheoneandonlyRAHhe is farming, one of the largest pea producers in the UK. It's not clear if the land is held personally, in a business, or some other way. There are a couple of recent RUclips videos showing the farms.
Seems to be particularly interested in the technology, e.g. robotised greenhouses, technology that could eventually be commercialised.
I personally find it quite interesting as I live somewhere (Kenya) with inconsistent rainfall that has a big impact on crop yields. Greenhouse farming is already quite big, but automation is low because there is little competition for labour and therefore wages are low.
@@russellpengilley5924 yep kenya is full of greenhouses isnt it? a big centre for flowers and green veg iirc? glad to hear dyson is farming. still think iht has a chance of being net positive for farmers in general, but glad to see he's innovating in the field
@@TheoneandonlyRAH yes, flowers and higher value vegetables like green beans, sugar snap peas and baby corn. The cool chain logistics setup is quite impressive.
Great video. Actual example numbers set out clearly - which has been lacking on all the major news channels so far. Key analysis for me is that on a typical farm facing a £1.2m inheritance tax bill but the farm earns £60k profit in a good year it would take 20 years of ALL of the farm profit to pay it off. What do the farmer and his family live on in that time? What about bad harvest years when there is a loss? What happens after 10 years when only half the inheritance tax debt has been paid off - does HMRC send in the baliffs to sell the farm. Its a ludicrous situation.
Thanks for the update Harry.. Im surprised you kept such a cool head doing this video.
Hi Harry. If, as they state, Labour’s primary reason for scrapping the 100% IHT for farmers is to capture those non-farmers who have invested heavily in land as a way of avoiding IHT - giving them a generational tax shelter for their wealth - then why do they not amend the rules and grant 100% relief to those farmers who are farmers; by using the same eligibility criteria as would be used for a tenant farmer who wants to pass on his generational tenancy to the next generation? This would mean that only those farmers whose principal source of income (at least 50%) was earnt from farming the land out of at least 5 of the last 7 years prior to their death. As many land investors, such as James Dyson, Jeremy Clarkson, pension funds and so on, would not qualify under this criteria, they would not get IHT relief and so achieve Labour’s stated aims. Whereas the family generational farmer whose principal source of income is the farm, would. Would you be willing, Harry with the influence and platform that you have, to raise this key point with Labour and so take the focus off the £1m limit and onto what the stated purpose of the change is for? How could they argue with using the succession clause which is already written in law for tenant farmers who pass on their tenanted farms, when it would effectively sift out the ‘wheat’ from the ‘chaff’ by bringing to light who was a farmer who depended on their income from the land (the ‘wheat’) and who was not (the ‘chaff’)? With best wishes
Wouldn't matter anyway, because they'll engage in pseudo farming activities so they barely qualify as being active farmers under the law.
I had similar thoughts, so many different ways they could go around it really if that was their goal.
And all this happened just after a visit from Bill Biggest Landowner in the US Gates.....imagine my surprise
Waiting in the wings to snap up Uk land next, owned offshore with no inheritance tax issue.
💯
US influence in the UK is getting egregious in the extreme now. They are the worst societal mentor you could pick outside of the obvious ones. Instead of high profile Americans “advising” we should be looking to places like Scandinavia, the Netherlands. They get far more things right (not everything obviously) than our “cousin” across the pond.
BG is evil personified. He also thinks he’s the fount of knowledge on medical issues as well what a prat.
Generational farmers are victims of the current tax structure. Land values are high because there is 100% relief and non farmers have bought farms to benefit from no inheritance tax. In a business context farm land is a piece of equipment or raw material from which income is generated - currently having been inflated by demand from people purchasing for tax benefit not to actually farm the cost is too high and margin too small. Land values need to drop by about 20% - this change to tax laws will deter the tax dodgers. when this happens the genuine farmers will benefit
people like harry, who is a rich man with a car magazine, are the rich people who bought farm land to avoid paying inheritance tax and drove the land prices up. This law ends that tax loophole.
But what's funny is here people are watching a video by one of the rich people who causes problems to farms, in their greed to never pay tax to the country they live in, feeding everyone disinformation acting like this law change is an attack on farmers and not rich tax dodgers like him.
Well done for getting involved Harry .
Harry you are such a details man who brings a lot of attention to farming via people like me who found you via Evo and your car channel.
There are some real challenges around food production, food security and the sustainability of farming in the UK. This plus Brexit and the change in subsided payments seems to be a huge issue, my question is where are we at in terms of level of crisis , is this as big/bad as foot and mouth etc.
To look at this from another point of view, are you not arguing to keep the cart before the horse in perpetuity? There has to be good reasons why farmland has been consistently sold for far more per acre, than can be justified on the basis of growing crops or livestock. Why haven't farmers been protesting for the last decade to remove land inheritance, development and speculation tax breaks, so they can be left in peace to grow crops and manage the land sustainably. I nearly bought some grade 2 arable land in 1992 for £1500 an acre, which could just about provide a purely farming return on investment. The policies that have happened since then, to create this bubble, should have been derided by the CLA , NFU etc etc at the time. The deafening silence for years , means I am now struggling to shed many tears.
Exactly. Farmers could easily choose to protest to keep farm land only for farming. This would keep down the price of farmland and avoid inheritance tax.
Farmers are complaining because they are far more concerned about keeping inherited wealth. It is all about greed.
@@johnsmith-ls4rc it does they just don’t want to sell it and want to moan about being hard done by when in actual fact they are still taxed less than anyone else.
Working 7 days a week for pittance is about greed. Hardly.
@@Ztandard32 Afraid so farmers have been protected for years.
The big companies taking out competition
More like government taking out rich peoples tax loophole via buying farm land for 0 inheritance tax which has also driven the land prices up and resulted in less actual farmers... This change does not punish farmers, it punishes rich people who are greedy.
Didn't Clarkson brag about buying his farm to avoid IHT at the start of his show?
yer and after his amazon tv show , he stayed out the country for a year , to avoid tax , then prob bought the farm with a offshore account .
I think Harry and many genuine farmers will forget that not everyone is playing the honest game. We all know there is no IHT on this, the ten fold increase in farm land is not because of the high return being a farmer is it?
@@fraserwright9482 Harry sold his previous farm for housing and bought a nice house in the Cotswolds with farm attached. Limiting his IHT and allowing him to amass a nice collection of tax efficient classic cars. Maybe not such an honest game, but I think most farmers would love to do the same if they are honest about it.
The insurance company that bought Harrys previous farm sold the land for housing. Is there something wrong with your ears?
@@fraserwright9482 They're not forgetting. Family farmers are incredibly shrewd businessmen who are able do things like... start car magazines. It's not by mistake that they're suddenly not mentioning the ability to sell equity, or that they depend on poorer contract farmers who inherit piss all. Their only flaw is forgetting how unconvincing it is to cry wolf when their other youtube channel is showing off their massive car collection.
Very interesting thank you
Fantastic video. Sums it up well. Thanks
thank you for highlighting and explaining it so clearly. Scandalous...
Very succinctly put Harry. Loved how you didn’t talk specifically about your situation as well that was a nice touch. It’s a bad situation that hopefully as the dust settles gets tweaked.
It was a pleasure to meet you yesterday evening. Thanks for chatting to me about cars and roads.
To be clear, I don't disagree with his concerns but, to be honest, it would be tricky for a guy with a multi-million pound car collection to talk about 'scratching around to make a living'
@@Stu_2112 He has worked and taken financial risks for nearly 40 years to have what he now owns and enjoys with the rest of us.
Yes he makes money from RUclips but so do the BBC Sky etc.
Get a grip!!
@@Stu_2112 it's much different, because the car collection is purely recreational. Machinery is a necessity to do the job with farming.
Hmmm not sure I agree Harry, which is rare as I normally agree with most of what you say
Why?
@@bw1376envy most likely
@@bobmcgrath1272 They hate anyone slightly more successful, especially entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks like Metcalfe, Clarkson and Dyson.
Details????
Hear hear, thanks for putting that up👏🏻
Excellent. Spot on
Excellent discussion. Farming economics in Britain very similar to US family farms
Apparently the billionaires are buying farm land . Does that have anything to do with it ....?
Bill Gates visited Starmer in Downing Street last month. Gates think he knows lots about farming as he is now the largest owner of farmland in the US. Labour's policy will mean we will just end up with unsustainable megafarms owned by degenerate billionaires.
What a state of affairs, it beggars belief. Do keep us posted on ways we, as the general public, can help you farmers to get this nonsense overturned.
Thank you Harry for making this video. You explained the situation very clearly and made the inheritance tax situation understandable. The Inheritance Tax on farmers shouldn't have ever been thought of, let alone be applied. Labour are going to suffer at the next election and I can't wait to see them kicked out.
Harry is one of the rich tax dodgers this law is in place to stop... He owns a car magazine and sold his previous farm to avoid inheritance tax (only reason he bought it) to a company that put houses there. That was land an actual farmer could have had, but rich people like harry pushed land prices up to hide their wealth from tax.
But yeah how dare labour!!!
All in how much will they actually make from this - Feck All in the bigger scheme of things.. Im not a Tory ( Scotch Irish) but what part of you grow our food is hard for Governments to comprehend !!!! Great Vid - Great Channel ever in Frankfurt beers on me !1 SLAINTE !!!
Labour thinks that farmers are all as wealthy as they were back in the 20 century.
Back when there wasn't so many regulations, when weather was stable and harvests were plentiful.
Different story these days when bad weather can mean losses rather than huge profits.
And there wasn’t any imported grain and wool was worth a fortune
They want your land!
You will own nothing.
Some still don't see it. Even Harry is looking for some other explanation. Everything according to the 2030 and 2050 agenda!
💯 land grab
don't be silly
The entire point is to force family farms onto the market to be bought by and folded into massive crony corporations
@@Xyzabc998dont be naive.
I think they should relook at it and make sure that the relief of Inheritance Tax for farming is genuine rather than rich people purchasing farms not really producing any quantity of food or adding to the UK food security and getting the 100% relief.
I would say there should be a quota on the Inheritance Tax based on a tier of food production. Maybe you might need to zone that based on regions of the UK so the productivity of land is accounted for. Either way there is a middle ground here that should be found.
Harry, really enjoy your channels. I find it hard to buy your story that you farm ‘to be custodian of the countryside’ or ‘for the goodness of others’, bar your own children.
What about having the inheritance tax only kick in if the son / daughter sells any land (above a certain threshold) within 5 years of inheriting. That then encourages them to continue farming which is what we need / want as a country.
So well said.
I stand with the Farmers
I sympathise. However, land is overvalued partially because of inheritance tax breaks. Most land sold today is not to farmers. Would losing this break bring land values back in the reach of farmers
?
Most small time farmers will lose their land a business this does not affect rich people who don't farm.
James Dyson owns 37,000 acres to avoid IT pushing up prices for people who want to farm for a profit
It's a bit much quoting Dyson.
Quoting Dyson shows how badly informed some folk are. He doesn't give a damn about any of you. He wanted Brexit, lied about it then upsticks and tootled off to Singapore.
@@VanderlyndenJengold we haven’t had one of his hoovers in this house since Brexit
According to the Sunday Times, James Dyson paid around £156m in taxes last year. Supermarket's have already announced Labour's new budget is pushing up food and drink prices, which will probably impact you more than it will folk Dyson. Enjoy!
@ Tesco managed to only scrape in £2.9 Billion in profit last years As Mandy Rice Davis famously said “They would say that wouldn’t they”
Thanks Harry for this, a well considered appraisal of the Budget implications. Let’s hope government will appreciate the impact on farmers and the countryside.
Since WW2 the return on owned farmland has been around 1.5% pa. Before then it was worse. Right now income support for farming has effectively been removed and market prices are not shifting so farm incomes must fall. Economy of scale works in farming, and debt doesn't. Banks will be very very cautious. I agree with Harry....watch this space. Either the government backtracks or we are looking at the start of a skewed farmland nationalisation.
Great? Farms should be in the hands of whoever creates the most food, for the least environmental damage. And farm size dropping and land values dropping is necessary to allow new farmers in.
@@louisholden5127 There is a pretty strong argument that the state should own the land. The whole idea that someone like Dyson can buy up huge tracts then lease it to tenant farmers is obscene. We are paying for that as subsidies to farmers will end up in these landlords pockets.
We need to fix this pronto.
Harry - never mind the farmers ( full sympathy to them), what about people like me who’ve worked so damn hard for 50 years, never claimed a penny dole even there were times when we were entitled, now I’ve built up assets through graft and now I’m stressing to try and protect it for my children so that they don’t have the hardships I endured. Why are we hit with 40%. I’d gladly pay 20% ….
Finding the 20% whilst keeping the farm finances healthy will be the trouble.
This is a brilliant explanation and well edited video. Thanks you for taking your time to produce such good a video about a horrible situation. I am in a similar situation to the one described. I am managing my family's farm which is valued at slightly over £8m with an annual turnover of about £200k but profits range from £60k to -£15k. They have agreed to gift me the farm but now cannot die in the next 7 years or we will lose the farm. Its such a struggle some years even just to break even and after the loss of bps I have had to increase countryside stewardship and sfi options to guarantee a return after several years of marginal cropping. In fact I have started doing some contracting after helping a neighbour a few years back who now gets me to cut all his crops. Im sat there on the combine dojng maths realising I am probably making more profit from his crops than he is. Its a tough gig already this farming thing, this was the last thing we needed.
You won't lose it , somebody will buy it for 8million
@@sarahann530 Still left with £6.4 million at 20 % IHT. Not being spiteful, just pragmatic. It would be a wrench, but .............
@johnsmith-ls4rc My question is who would pay 8 million for a farm if there is no money in it ?
@@sarahann530 split it into 8 chunks and sell it off. 1 million inheritance tax free for 8 people.
@@Dan-qd6gc Sweet deal !
It’s up to you and JC to teach her and the public etc ……what will happen etc …as You ,JC and some way Kaleb are now The Face of British farming .
Well said Harry….this just doesn’t work, you can’t just conjure up cash, when it’s not there. You’d inherit and end up having sell that which keeps the business alive…barely…some bureaucrat has come up with what they think is a money spinner, and they’ve jumped on it, with no or little consideration
Blame your chums James Dyson and Jeremy Clarkson, and others of their ilk, who bought vast acresges purely as a tax fiddle.
According to the Sunday Times, James Dyson paid £156m in taxes in the UK last year. All this is going to force small family farmers out of business while Starmer's new friend Bill Gates starts buying up land. He's already the largest owner of farmland in the United States.
And, as usual, the Labour party has a knee jerk reaction that has a major detrimental impact on all but the ones they're supposedly targeting. Remember IR35 to catch Greg Dyke? Massive impact on the freelance workforce who have been progressively forced into inflexible permanent employment, just the thing to increase growth. Or is it?
Well the value of farmland has shot up because of people buying it purely to avoid inheritance tax. Clarkson, Dyson and many more. This should now stop and there will be some investors getting out because this tax relief has gone. Farmland prices should drop reducing the IHT bill. There will also be opportunities for new younger farmers to enter farming as more farmland comes onto the market. Eventually farmland prices might have some relationship to what a farming business can sustain.
Rubbish . How long is "Eventually"?
What happens in the meantime while your "Eventually " plays out?
This is obviously a Starmer plant and you will be forced to recant .
So farmers and land owners who educate their children at private schools have been really shafted.
@@Billywoo12 probably 90% of both groups them vote Tory so no political damage to Labour
How many ?
This tax relief introduced in the 70s to help family farms was broadened to shares in other businesses like Self-storage, leasing...there are loads. That allowed the development of investment funds which invest in them, and then savers, you or me, can buy shares in the fund, and these shares can be passed on IHT free. This may be one factor that caused land prices to spike more than farm profitability justifies. The relief could be restricted to the testator, and pethaps beneficiary, working full time in the business being passed on.
Thanks for the info as always.! Can you do a video of the tax changes to pickups!!
Good on the Government for introducing this, there are a lot of greedy tax dodgers out there. I live within a small rural farm just outside a village the greedy farmer has been trying to sell the green belt farm land off for years to housing development as he did with his last small holding. Why ! I hope the Labour Government taxes the hell out of the lot of them!
It's not quite the same thing. Please go back under your stone.
Many of the supermarkets are now saying the tax rises will mean more expensive food on the shelves, so I hope you enjoy that! This policy has more to do with the fact that Bill Gates visited Starmer in Downing Street last month. Gates think he knows lots about farming as he is now the largest owner of farmland in the US. It is clear the globalists want UK farmland. Labour's policy will mean we will just end up with unsustainable megafarms owned by degenerate billionaires.