Farmers Protest UK Inheritance Tax Reform
Thousands of farmers from across the United Kingdom flooded the streets of London on November 19 to protest a reform to inheritance tax laws.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the reform last month when presenting the Labour government’s 2024 budget, the highest tax-raising budget the nation has had in decades.
Nicknamed the “tractor tax,” the reform means farms worth over £1 million (us$1.3 million) will be subject to a 20 percent inheritance tax beginning April 2026. Farmers used to be exempt from this tax until wealthy landowners began taking advantage of the inheritance relief by buying agricultural property.
Values: The Labour government argues the tax will impact only 500 of the wealthiest estates every year, and they will have up to 10 years to pay it off. However, the government’s value assessments do not include assets like livestock and machinery.
The Country Land and Business Association has estimated that 70,000 UK farms are valued at over £1 million. Therefore, the reform will affect up to 66 percent of the nation’s farmers.
Land loss: While land and machinery have a high value, most farmers themselves make a low profit (around £30,000 to £40,000 a year). This means their children will have to sell land to pay off the tax.
“It’s more than our profit in any year that we’ve had in the last 10 years,” fourth-generation farmer Will Weaver explained. “Dad’s saying we’ll have to sell something. I don’t know if we’ll be able to raise that sort of money through a mortgage. It’s really worrying.”
“It’s unfortunate, as Labour had originally said they would support farmers,” Weaver said.
Many believe this reform could be the end of the UK’s agricultural industry.
It’s not just about the tax, it’s about food. That’s what all these people here do, produce food. If we can’t do it, we’re going to rely on food from Peru, Spain or Portugal—and when they have a flood or a war, we won’t get the food. It will go to their people first and we’ll be stuffed and food prices will soar.
—Tom Morphew, farmer from Sussex
Protests: Police estimate around 10,000 farmers from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England showed up to march around Parliament Square, carrying signs that read, “No farmers, no food, no future” and, “Starmer the farmer harmer,” referring to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The farmers were joined by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, as well as Jeremy Clarkson, former Top Gear presenter-turned-farmer.
After the protests, National Farmers’ Union general secretary Tom Bradshaw said, “The ball is in the government’s court. They have to be the ones that now decide how they react to this.”
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