Starmer’s tax raid ‘will mean big companies turning farmland into net-zero forests’, experts warn

Under changes to the budget, farmers will have to pay inheritance tax on estates worth more than £1 million.

Rural groups have warned that farmers will be forced to sell parcels of land to cover the 20 percent tax.

Other farmers are likely to be more cautious about purchasing these lands due to uncertainty about the future tax burden and reduced revenues from agricultural subsidies.

As a result, CLA said the land could be more attractive to private investors for green schemes such as carbon offsetting through tree planting. Large companies are generally not liable for inheritance tax because they are rarely owned by a single family.

‘Cruel family farm tax’

National Farmers Union (NFU) announces plans Organizing a mass rally in front of Parliament After calling on the Government to reconsider on 19 November.

The Conservative Party’s new leader, Kemi Badenoch, said on Wednesday the party would reverse Labour’s decision. “cruel family farm tax” if selected.

Corporate purchases of farmland are increasing across the country as companies tout their green credentials.

More than half of farms and properties sold in 2023 went to non-farmers, with the number of corporate buyers rising by 10 per cent last year, according to land experts Strutt & Parker.

A 2022 report from the charity Community Land Scotland warned that land purchases by companies such as Aviva, Standard Life and BrewDog were driving up land prices and worsening rural inequality.