Farmers Hard-Done by the Budget?

Catching up with in-depth National news after a brief absence, I am shocked — and torn — to read detailed accounts of the latest tensions between farmers and the government.

Having been brought up with an instinctive notion of ‘bequeathing’, Mrs Lao and I would be the first to suffer, but we can see that, if society continues to evolve towards a more egalitarian model, the concept of inheritance will (some would say should) become obsolete. In a meritocracy, neither positions, means, professions, houses, possessions, nor, for that matter, gardens, should be inherited — each generation to their own, according to their merit, as well as their desire to contribute to society from scratch; a big question prompting much thinking and a re-evaluation of both land and real estate ownership. The farmers wish to bequeath their farms; we gardeners wish to bequeath our gardens … or do we?

 

I think there should be a level playing field, and farmers should have to apply to that, I'm not anti farmer but if there are some things the government intends to confiscate of my belongings, when I die, I think the same should apply to farmers.

 

This is a sore subject at the moment. My father firmly believed that what he'd worked extremely hard for should all go to me. The UK government, he felt, had already had their share of contributions and tax. Luckily, he arranged things so that was exactly what happened, before the option was withdrawn. Although I've no children, I also firmly believe that I should be able to leave what bit I've got to whom I choose. The French state thinks otherwise and will levy 60% tax on any bequests other than to immediate family, a sliding scale on anything left to parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews. I find that truly disgraceful. I don't think it has anything to do with an egalitarian model. It's a classic case of the State clawing in money wherever and whenever it can. At best discrimination against the childless, at worst pure property theft.
Can UK afford to lose farmers? France is haemorrhaging agriculteurs at an alarming rate with few youngsters wanting to pursue a difficult and often not particularly profitable way of life. Another nail in the coffin?

 

Meritocracy is a fine principle for species that produce an abundance of offspring and count their chances of passing their genes on by the sheer numbers. Pick and choose the best ones (a "Golden Son" springs to my kind for no apparent reason ).

With a species like ours, it is very understandable that the parents to try to benefit their offspring in any conceivable way, and if the surrounding tribal system decides to support other structures or methods to distribute the wealth, the individuals will feel cheated and upset.

Our tribe is, as it has always been, a combination of individual and common goals.

With the farming lifestyle, the change from being a self-supporting system of straightforward inheritance to the modern state of being regulated and supported by The Tribe and in exchange, governed (at a cost), must be quite distressing. Awful, actually.

It must be painful to realise you are just working for yourself and for the immediate upkeep of your family just for now. After you are gone, your offspring may just have to park the tractor, clean their wellies and get a job in a call centre.

Personally I'm fortunate as most of the modest inheritance I leave will be in cash or in easily cash-able form so that the beneficiary (The Child or The Homeless Cats, still debating about it), will be able to pay whatever tax The Tribe decides should come to Them. Much better than having fifty cows in Annitsford and a bill of £20 000 to pay in cash.

Then again, cows are rather wonderful

 

Wonderfully put, @Selleri, if a bit harsh on The Child .
It all smacks of the mediaeval practice of the lord of the manor having the right to take a serf's most valuable possession on his death. We've just exchanged feudal lords for rapacious governments. As for contributing to 'society', there are huge swathes of society that I'd see in hell before they'd get the benefit of anything of mine.

 

There are ways round it but it needs fore thought.
I should state I don't agree with the government stealing your assets when you die I just think if we must have this then it should apply equally to all.

 

I wonder if the same rules are aplyed to the MP's which own large area's of land?

 

I think that farmland being free of inheritance tax is what has inflated the price of it so much. Farmers will tell you their land is worth 2 million pounds but they are barely making minimum wage. The land clearly isn't actually worth that much then, for any practical purpose. It is simply being used as a store of value.

A lot of this country's farmers are tenant farmers too, who have never benefited from the inheritance tax situation and in fact have been priced out of owning their own land by the land price inflation it's caused. Unsurprisingly they are not driving their tractors up and down Westminster.

Remember farms have only been free of inheritance tax since 1984.

 

Don't forget the other tax's they don't pay, Vehicle road tax on tractors used to be £14 a year now it's £0, and rebaited diesel and some farmers have used this to do other things outside of Agri work, also gross weight of tractor + trailar was 24 tons now 31 tons

 

Your post fascinates me. At the same time, I feel like saying, as was once forcefully put, You canNOT be serious! Are you? One of my neighbours says cats are vermin, especially homeless ones. Personally, I adore them … but would you really prioritize them over your own flesh and blood?! Or is your situation the same as ours, where the children say Don’t worry about it, spend it all, we’ll make our own. But the bequeathing instinct is powerful. The debate is complicated, as the hereditary system can fail so badly, as in “the lords” (whom some disrespectfully call upper class, degenerate tw*ts) who inherit the position, show up for an hour (most of which they spend in the bar where the booze is subsidized (by you and me) to ‘earn’ their daily allowance — up to [in 2024] (£361 a day - of your money!) (just for showing up, between bouts of ‘shooting’ on estates while drinking Latour (yes, I am jealous … but only of the Latour). Then there are certain ‘families’ whose mind-bogglingly lavish inheritance includes consanguinated DNA which, perhaps is an excuse for some of their atrocious behaviours which would land most of us in jail, but not them. I am all for inheritance seen from one end of the prism; but through the other end of the same 'prison', it is entirely reliant on the notions of possession and profit, concepts which negate all philosophical teaching, through the ages; it is at the root of virtually every current world conflict. The conundrum attached to farming is that, whilst the land could arguably be seen as acceptable inheritance, the profession should not, as there is no guarantee of aptitude or desire, anymore than the professions of surgeons or airline pilots should be 'handed down' ; they cannot and must not be inherited; mercifully, they must be learned ... and earned.

 

I lived very closely with French agriculteurs until 2016. Up until quite recently, it was never a question (in France at least) of land being a commodity or of the younger generations not wishing to follow in their forebears' footsteps. Whilst many of them were financially successful, intelligent, astute business people in their own way, there were also many, many more who were simply born to a way of life that encompasses a genuine love of their land and their métier. They didn't ask for anything more from life than to pursue a relatively tranquil job subject to seasons and météo. Since the 70s the younger generations may have attended college, got to grips with agri-technology and so on but they also got gripped by the huge agri-business Companies which have had a disastrous effect on everyone except their shareholders, and the Brussels tyranny which has left many bankrupt if not suicidal.
I would guess that any moves here to alter the inheritance laws as they apply to farmers will be done with a view to attracting starry-eyed parisiens and foreigners to take on abandonned farms and run them as hobbyists. Who cares whether they succeed as long as the property market thrives and the taxes keep rolling in?

 

What about the purposes of property development? That would seem to be the obvious route for landowners to take in UK, assuming that there are no controls on urbanisation?

 

And a lot of them are.

 

If you sell land for building and you reinvest back into another farm you have 3 years rollover to do it TAX free
There is lots of goody in Agri if you know where to look and have a good accounant that stears you the right way

Edit
Also you can put some of your living cost's against the farm, ie clothes, food, heating etc where as if another business you would have to clain it as expenses

 

We're on dodgy territory here. There are a lot of families in both countries and of all social levels to which that applies. Have you watched 'Le Champ Dolent' at all? The wooden performance of the main character notwithstanding, it's a potent mini-series on the realities of agriculture from pre-WW1 to present day (only backwards, like Jorvik ).