the real victims are always the rich, they are always hungry, why can't we feed them more money?
Millionaire landowners are using dubious statistics to campaign against the Government's inheritance tax reforms
bylinetimes.com
~See a startling claim by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) that 70,000 farms – over a third of all UK farms – would be affected by the reforms.
Neidle has branded the figures “nonsense fake stats”. The CLA’s methodology appears almost laughably flawed.
I’ve got hold of it. Here it is:
- Total Ownership Change: The 70,000 farms impacted is based on the idea that all farms (100%) will change ownership over time, approximately over a 10-year period.
- Farm Value and Size: Farms between 50 and 99 hectares (30,000 farms) and 100 hectares or more (40,000 farms) have values above the £1 million tax limit, meaning they’d all be affected by the change — impacting around one-third of all UK farms.
- Long term certainty: Death is unpredictable, which means any business must make reasonable plans for such an event. If these 70,000 farms anticipate much larger tax bills as they grow their assets, they may decide to reduce their growth plans or investment. This could stifle innovation, not only in agriculture but in the many other businesses farmers run, limiting their earnings potential.
The group assumes, remarkably, that all farms will change ownership every 10 years.
It assumes that no farmers are married. In other words, they are assuming only the £1m tax limit, rather than the £2m that couples get.
They are assuming that
no farmers claim IHT relief for their properties, removing the £325,000 relief you get on your home (again, effectively doubled for couples).
And the analysis makes sweeping assumptions about land values without accounting for regional variations, effectively suggesting land is worth the same everywhere, no matter its state.
These wonky figures have been trumpeted by the
Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in a flurry of press releases and angry parliamentary statements.