Alicia Kearns MP has presented a joint letter to Number 10 Downing Street opposing Labour’s cuts to Agricultural Property Relief (APR).
The letter was signed by over 100 MPs, industry bodies and farming experts, calling on the Government to rethink the new tax rules announced in the Autumn Budget.
Inheritance Tax reliefs such as APR reduce the amount of tax farmers and landowners are required to pay when farmland is passed to the next generation after a death.
New rules will mean an effective tax rate of 20% on agricultural assets valued at over £1 million, which could force thousands of farmers to sell their family farms to pay the Inheritance Tax bill.
The Government has estimated the new £1 million threshold means three-quarters of farms will not be impacted by the change, however the NFU believes this is an underestimate and up to half of all working farms, possibly more, could be impacted by the new tax rules.
Alicia Kearns, Member of Parliament for Rutland and Stamford, said:
“Labour’s tax on family farms is wrong, jeopardising generations of farming and threatening our food security.
“Locally farmers are devastated, and now in fear they could be left with no choice but to sell their land, leaving our rural way of life at risk of takeover by big corporations and harming our national food security.
“It is deeply disappointing our calls have been ignored so far, but I hope this letter will encourage the Government to think again.”
