Farmers in Cornwall have said the government’s climbdown on inheritance tax has not gone far enough.
On Tuesday, the government said it would raise the inheritance tax (IHT) relief threshold for farmers from £1m to £2.5m for the 20% tax it announced in April.
Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth Jayne Kirkham defended the government’s U-turn and said the new threshold “would exempt the vast majority of our working family farmers”.
Maria Warne-Elston, 23, a fifth generation farmer in Cornwall, said the new threshold was “definitely a step in the right direction” but a higher level was needed.
Ms Warne-Elston said: “It still leaves out a lot of farms over the value of £5m – which isn’t hard to beat because farms nowadays are more than likely going to have to have a value between £5m and £10m in order to make any livelihood.
“The initial threshold would have seen this farm go down the swanny, we would have had to sell up just to pay the tax.
“We’re not a big farm, we’re not making a massive profit. We simply farm and produce food, and we’re not going to be able to do that if this tax comes in.”
The tax on inherited agricultural assets is set to begin in April, ending the 100% tax relief that had been in place since the 1980s.
Philip Pryor, who grows potatoes and cereals at Perranwell Station near Truro, said the new threshold was “a partial reprieve” but he did not think the government had “gone anywhere near far enough”.
Jeremy Oatey, who grows vegetables on land at Torpoint, welcomed the increase.
He said: “I think it’s good they’ve realised the effect of the change didn’t really target those they wanted to, it actually hit your average working farming family.”
“It would have caused havoc in the industry.”
In the 14 months since the initial proposal was announced, there have been regular protests by farmers across Cornwall.
All four Cornwall MPs welcomed the announcement, which Camborne, Redruth and Hayle MP Perran Moon called “a huge Christmas relief to a huge number of my farmers”.
