The meek shall inherit the earth

Part time vacuum cleaner salesman and resident of Singapore, Sir James Dyson, criticised Chancellor Rachel Reeves for withdrawing 100% agricultural property relief from estates worth more than £1 million. From April 2026, inheritance tax will apply with an effective rate of 20% - half the rate applicable to other property. Dyson claims the change will "kill off entrepreneurship" and that "small businesses and start ups" will suffer most.

Sir James unaccountably omitted to mention that he is one of the largest landowners in Britain, growing crops on 36,000 acres through his business Dyson Farms. His fortune is currently estimated at £20.8 billion 🧑🏻‍🌾🚜

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senghenydd · M

The Dyson family have a lot to lose.

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SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@senghenydd Farmers often identify so closely with their land that they actively farm right up until death. They just need to be a bit more business minded and plan for the future by transferring property to the next generation.

I understand Jeremy Clarkson invested in farmland to protect his capital from inheritance tax and is now looking a bit of a wally.

senghenydd · M

@SunshineGirl I have a reply for you from Jeremy Clarkson well it's one of his many quotes:

Let me say right now I don't own a farm but I do feel sorry for those people who have worked and saved and have a lot too lose.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@senghenydd But you can't lose something when you're dead, do you? The tax is effectively paid by the beneficiary who is assumed not to have worked for the inheritance. It is a tax on unearned wealth. Likewise, capital gains (which Clarkson may have been seeking to avoid) is a tax on any increase in the value of property that is not attributable to the owner's labour. Again, a tax on unearned income.

Convivial · 26-30, F

I wonder if I can have his rounding errors 🤔

Persephonee · 22-25, F

Stopped clocks and all that. £1M is basically about 40 acres of farmland. The average British farm size is around 215 acres.

On the other hand lots of nice areas of flat land will be being sold off cheaply so the cementing-the-countryside lobby will be cheering.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Persephonee Prime arable in eastern England, perhaps, but certainly not where I work. Anyhow, the main point is that non-farmers investing in agricultural land to shield their capital from tax have driven up market prices to levels which exclude people who actually make a living from producing food. And most - Dyson being an honourable exception - do not use their land productively. So the exemption has failed in its original intention to support genuine farmers and is no longer in the public interest.

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Crazywaterspring · 61-69, M

@SunshineGirl Bill Gates has been buying up farm land in the US.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

@Crazywaterspring It is a big problem in the UK. Corporations and overseas entities buy up farmland to avoid tax and push up land prices so actual small farmers can't afford to expand. Dyson is genuine in that he uses his farms to test renewable energy plants and other innovations, but he shouldn't complain about the withdrawal of a relief thay was only meant to benefit small family farms.

Crazywaterspring · 61-69, M

@SunshineGirl Dyson is doing something. Absentee land owners in the US take it out of production to receive federal farm subsidies designed to boost commodity prices and to support small farmers.

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