SIR, Like many I’m sure I am still reeling from last week’s budget which has undoubtedly shafted British farmers.
Like many others I have ‘liked’ and shared numerous posts from friends and ‘influencers’ alike on social media over the course of the last week, most of which make a compelling argument against the inheritance tax. I do however wonder about the usefulness of these social media shares when largely we are preaching to the converted.
Worryingly, amongst some of these posts I hear tales of a few farmers with the, ‘well it doesn’t affect me’, attitude. Perhaps those who know they will sell up soon or those with only rented land. This inheritance tax does not simply represent an increase in taxation but it shows that the government of this country does not understand or care about farmers or food production in this country.
Whether you will be directly impacted by this tax or not this is a significant moment for farmers in this country. Perhaps you are lucky enough to be able to afford 20% taxation on your assets, perhaps you are a tenant who won’t be directly impacted but ask yourselves the question… if we do not challenge this then what next?
Yesterday I sat down and wrote a long letter to my local MP. Like many of us in Scotland this is a new MP to the area and more worryingly an MP which has previously represented only large urban areas. I felt the need to make her understand the huge knock on implications for her constituency if we lose our family farms.
Whether you feel directly impacted by the inheritance tax or not I challenge everyone to write to their local MP too and tell them their story. Tell them of the importance of producing high quality food, the importance of family farms to the local economy, the pressures we already face, the already poor mental health statistics for our industry. Now more than ever we need our politicians to understand us on a personal level and not just as the ‘moaning farmer’.
If there is any chance of overturning this appalling decision then it needs action from the many, not the few.
Jennifer Struthers, Greenbank Farm, Carluke
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