• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

No, a Farm Isn’t the Same as a House

by Philip Leith
21 November 2024 3:00 PM

Over the last few days there have been a lot of commentators detailing why they believe that the farmers are wrong and that the Government is right to impose inheritance tax charges on farmers. They argue that farmers should not be treated differently to anybody else that owns an asset such as a house. They appear to miss the big difference that farmland is completely different to other assets.

For example, if you have a parent that’s living in the old family home, generally their offspring will have left home, they’ll have their own house, their own career and an income that is completely independent of the parent. When the parent dies, if there is an inheritance tax liability, the parent’s assets can be sold off and the liability paid to HMRC. The offspring get to take what is left and do with it whatever they like.

If you are the offspring of a farmer and intend to maintain that farm and there is an inheritance tax liability it is extremely unlikely that there would be available cash to settle the tax liability. It is also likely that you would be living on that farm and your income would be dependent on it.

Certain commentators glibly suggest that the offspring would just have to sell some of their land to pay the tax bill. Let us suppose someone follows this suggestion and needed to sell 5% of the land to cover the bill. He would have to sell a parcel of land that was useful to somebody else; he couldn’t just carve out a little corner of a field he doesn’t use so he would probably end up having to sell a larger portion of the property at a low rate to be able to generate at least that amount of cash. If he ends up having to sell say 10% of his land to meet this inheritance tax bill that means that his income would drop 10%. It’s as simple as that: the income cannot remain at where it was if he’s selling off part of the asset that is generating that income.

Would the commentators saying that everyone has got to be treated the same be prepared, when they inherit from a parent, to sell part of the parent’s assets to pay a sum to HMRC, not be able to sell the rest and have to take a reduction in their income just because they’ve inherited?

It has also been suggested that the only reason you pay inheritance tax is if you don’t trust your children as you can gift the farm to them and after seven years there is no tax liability. Setting aside farmers have not had to do this until now and do not have seven years now to execute the plan, there is a good reason they might not want to.

As you get older you will pass over more of the farm work to your offspring because he or she is younger and fitter than you. Farm workers are more than 20 times more likely to be killed on the job, according to health and safety figures. If you pass over the farm to your offspring and your offspring gets killed in a farm accident, what happens then? Is there a special clause so you could say you didn’t really mean it, it was only if you died first?

The simplest way to target the people who have put money into farm land as an inheritance tax dodge is just to make it so that a charge becomes due if the land is sold. If it is being passed on to another generation of farmers and is being farmed there should be no tax liability.

Inheriting a farm is quite simply very different from inheriting a house and anyone who cannot see that is incredibly stupid.

Tags: Farmer protestsFarmingInheritance TaxTax Rises

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu Over “War Crimes”

Next Post

The Process is the Punishment: The Case of Pearson v Essex Police

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

47 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

The Sceptic EP.37: David Frost on Starmer’s EU Surrender, James Price on Broken Britain and David Shipley on Lucy Connolly’s Failed Appeal

by Richard Eldred
23 May 2025
6

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

24 May 2025
by Toby Young

Doctor Who Star Ncuti Gatwa “Axed” and BBC Show to be “Put on Pause” Amid Falling Ratings and Woke Storylines

23 May 2025
by Will Jones

Follow the Silenced is the Untold Story of the Covid Vaccine Trial Victims

24 May 2025
by Antony Brush

We Were Too Polite to Stop the Woke Takeover

23 May 2025
by Mary Gilleece

Maternity Hospital Evacuated After Solar Panel Fire

24 May 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

27

Trump in Nuclear Power Push Dubbed “Manhattan Project 2”

27

Trump Slaps 50% Tariffs on EU – as He Tells Starmer to Get Drilling for Oil

46

Starmer’s EU Reset Tethers the UK to the EU’s Green Dystopia

18

Maternity Hospital Evacuated After Solar Panel Fire

15

Follow the Silenced is the Untold Story of the Covid Vaccine Trial Victims

24 May 2025
by Antony Brush

Do Researchers’ Views on Immigration Affect the Results of Their Studies?

24 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Starmer’s EU Reset Tethers the UK to the EU’s Green Dystopia

24 May 2025
by Tilak Doshi

We Were Too Polite to Stop the Woke Takeover

23 May 2025
by Mary Gilleece

The Tweets Cited by the Judge to ‘Prove’ Lucy Connolly is “Racist” Do Nothing of the Sort

23 May 2025
by Laurie Wastell

POSTS BY DATE

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Oct   Dec »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

POSTS BY DATE

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  
« Oct   Dec »

DONATE

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

News Round-Up

24 May 2025
by Toby Young

Doctor Who Star Ncuti Gatwa “Axed” and BBC Show to be “Put on Pause” Amid Falling Ratings and Woke Storylines

23 May 2025
by Will Jones

Follow the Silenced is the Untold Story of the Covid Vaccine Trial Victims

24 May 2025
by Antony Brush

We Were Too Polite to Stop the Woke Takeover

23 May 2025
by Mary Gilleece

Maternity Hospital Evacuated After Solar Panel Fire

24 May 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

27

Trump in Nuclear Power Push Dubbed “Manhattan Project 2”

27

Trump Slaps 50% Tariffs on EU – as He Tells Starmer to Get Drilling for Oil

46

Starmer’s EU Reset Tethers the UK to the EU’s Green Dystopia

18

Maternity Hospital Evacuated After Solar Panel Fire

15

Follow the Silenced is the Untold Story of the Covid Vaccine Trial Victims

24 May 2025
by Antony Brush

Do Researchers’ Views on Immigration Affect the Results of Their Studies?

24 May 2025
by Noah Carl

Starmer’s EU Reset Tethers the UK to the EU’s Green Dystopia

24 May 2025
by Tilak Doshi

We Were Too Polite to Stop the Woke Takeover

23 May 2025
by Mary Gilleece

The Tweets Cited by the Judge to ‘Prove’ Lucy Connolly is “Racist” Do Nothing of the Sort

23 May 2025
by Laurie Wastell

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences