Budget inheritance tax changes will affect one-third of Northern Ireland farmers, says Andrew Muir
Around a third of farmers in Northern Ireland are set to be affected by new measures announced in the autumn Budget, the Stormont agriculture minister has said.
Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million.
Speaking during questions for his department at the assembly, Andrew Muir said it had been a “bad budget for farmers”.
He said while it is impossible to determine precisely the number of farms affected, he believes around one-third would be.
He said in the dairy sector, there could be around 75% affected.
“Northern Ireland will be disproportionately affected … I’m meeting the secretary of state today and asking for a rethink in relation to this,” he told MLAs.
“We need to provide succession planning for farming in Northern Ireland so we can encourage young people into farming, but also ensure the future success of family farms in Northern Ireland.
“This move in terms of inheritance tax has severe impacts in terms of inhibiting that generational renewal, and it’s actually causing quite a lot of angst and concern within the farm community of Northern Ireland today.”
He added: “I’m very keen to see the success of family farms in Northern Ireland. They’re the bedrock of our countryside, it’s important that we support them.
“The executive needs to come together with me in terms of ring-fencing the future budget around farming, fisheries and rural development. That’s one key measure that we can hopefully take a decision on shortly, which will give an element of reassurance.
“But these decisions in terms of inheritance tax and agricultural property are bad, it is a bad budget for farmers. We need to do what we can together to try to address those concerns.”
Meanwhile, the head of the National Farmers' Union said the “completely unfair” change to inheritance tax for farms has left farmers across the UK worried for their future.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw said he had never seen “the weight of support, the strength of feeling and anger” over the plans to impose inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1 million, and added that many farmers wanted to be “militant” over the issue.
Speaking after a meeting with Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury James Murray, Mr Bradshaw challenged the figures from the Treasury, that only a minority of farms would be affected.
He told the PA news agency: “Obviously, we fully dispute the figures the Treasury has been using and we've played back Defra's own figures.
“So, the Treasury is saying only 27% of farms will be within scope of these changes, Defra's own figures suggest that two-thirds of farms will be in scope.
“How they can have that wide a discrepancy within government is quite unbelievable.”
He said there had been no resolution on the issue, adding: “We've made very passionately our perception clear, that this tax change is completely unfair.
“It had been ruled out by the secretary of state in the run-up to the election and now there are many family farms right across the United Kingdom that are worried for their future.”