Letter: Can Stormont overturn devastating tax levy on family farms?
A letter from John LK Magowan:
The introduction of estate duty on family farms is the most radical and most devastating piece of legislation to be proposed in over 100 years.
In the 1920s many farmers were considering voting for an independent Ireland in the belief that they would gain ownership of the land they farmed as tenants.
The British introduced the land purchase scheme.
The land was purchased from the landlords and passed to the tenants who then paid for it over the following 50 years.
This resulted in most farmers backing the continued link with Britain – a shrewd move by Gladstone!
The attitude of the English towards Ulster has changed completely.
It seems obvious that they would be happy for us to leave the United Kingdom and become part of a united Ireland.
Stormont is given barely enough finances to provide basic public services and the wider agricultural business is to be run into the ground.
Can Stormont overcome its inertia and resist and refuse to allow this legislation to be implemented?
John L K Magowan, Armagh