FUMING FARMERS...

The farming community has erupted in anger at the latest government proposal to levy Inheritance Tax on holdings (previously exempt) valued at more than £1 million.

The local expression of this discontent was held last Friday at the Thirsk Auction Mart, but all I can say is that, the meeting was less of an eruption, more of a damp squib!

Looking around the cafe before the event, I could see few of the consumers of good Yorkshire portions under their seventies, repeated at the meeting.

They are the cohort most likely to be affected by the new rules, which we are told can be mititgated by surviving a lifetime gift by seven years. (If you do want to use this idea, get professional advice, since it is ringed with rules, easy to fall foul of.)

The entrance hall at the Mart was crammed full, standing room only, with a panel of MP Kevin Hollinrake, plus local government and NFU representatives. (No Labour party MPs responded to their invitations).

To be fair, the only panellist who responded substantively to the IH Tax problem was Mr Hollinrake, the Reform Party councillor saw it as an opportunity to repeatedly bang the drum for his own party line, “If you want to get change, vote for us”.

Hollinrake condemned the proposals as a backdoor means of nationalizing land – “three generations, and the Treasury will have taken everything”.



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