Harriet Cross MP has written to the Chancellor urging her not to change inheritance tax for farmers, including agricultural property relief, in Labour’s Autumn Budget.
The Gordon and Buchan MP has raised concerns from farmers in Aberdeenshire amid the prospect of the lifeline tax reliefs being scrapped that allow agricultural land to be passed down tax free when the Budget is announced on October 30.
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Ms Cross has warned Chancellor Rachel Reeves that imposing an inheritance tax raid could force family farms to shut down while threatening the UK’s food supply.
The current relief allows farming families to pass down land and buildings from generation to generation without having to pay large death duties.
Many farmers also currently benefit from a separate business tax relief, which allows family companies to be handed down free of inheritance tax.
Labour’s manifesto neither confirms nor denies plans to scrap inheritance tax relief for farmland.
In her letter to the Chancellor, Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan, Harriet Cross, said: “Agricultural property relief and other inheritance tax reliefs are vital for ensuring that our nation’s farms, particularly those facing financial strain, can be passed intact between generations.
“Farmers, who are undoubtedly among the hardest working people in our country, rely on these measures to safeguard their livelihoods and our nation’s food security.
“Having spoken to farmers in my constituency of Gordon and Buchan, there is deep concern that scrapping these combined reliefs for farmers would result in the average farm facing an inheritance tax bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“This could, and in many cases will, be the difference between a family farm surviving between generations or having to be broken up and sold in order to generate cash to pay an inheritance tax bill.
“Farms are cash poor and rely wholly on their land and building assets to produce food for our nation and to generate a profit, most of which is put back into the farm for maintenance, restocking or making upgrades to infrastructure.
“Farming is built on fine margins and farms the length of the UK will not survive if they have to find large sums of cash to cover a tax bill. This is make or break for farming families.”
“I therefore urge you to acknowledge the critical importance of these reliefs to the agricultural sector and our food security by not changing inheritance tax for farmers, including agricultural property relief, in your Autumn Budget on October 30.”
