鈥淲hat鈥檚 worse is that the government has clearly forgotten the reason agricultural inheritance tax reliefs were brought in in the first place 鈥� which was to ensure that farms would not be sold or broken up following the death of the owner and could continue to produce high quality British food through each generation2. It鈥檚 clear that this government has entirely broken with that premise, and it will be farming, then its associated industries, and then consumers who will bear the impact.鈥�
Notes to editors:
1. Hansard 鈥� Volume 756 - November 4th 2024. Budget: Implications for Farming Communities.
[Food Security Minister] Daniel Zeichner: 鈥淭hat is not fair, it is not sustainable, and sadly, it has been used in some cases by wealthy landowners to avoid inheritance tax. That is why the Government have announced plans to reform agricultural property relief.鈥�
2. The government has not addressed the actual rationale for the existence of APR and BPR, which was succinctly set out by the Office of Tax Simplification, in its report on IHT in 2019:聽
鈥淚t is generally understood that the main policy rationale for BPR and APR is to prevent the sale or break up of businesses or farms to finance Inheritance Tax payments following the death of the owner.鈥澛�