Quote Originally Posted by regis80 View Post
Yep 5m signed that petition to effectively vote on a new referendum and this current petition is laughable.

Apparently what i?m reading is that this inheritance tax on farmers is on the wealthy.. but it?s all been whipped up by the wealthy and of course ?the national truth? aka daily mail that the likes of soulman will believe to come out and attack the policy, which no doubt led to this petition.

Didn?t farmers vote for brexit? ��
My understanding is that Reeve's wants to get more money to spend on the NHS/public services through inheritance tax on wealthy farmers which they have avoided paying for many years. Naturally, these wealthy farmers do not want to lose their profits but farming is a little different than other sectors. Many farmers may be asset rich (the value of the land itself if sold or equipment) but comparatively cash poor (making very slim profits). Clarkson indeed brought his farm partially to avoid inheritance tax but his Diddly Squat show has at least highlighted the stresses -both mentally and financially-of trying to run a farm. The government say that they are targeting the very wealthy landowners and estates and that smaller farms worth up to ?3m will not be affected. Personally no issue with that but the concern is that the government's figures do not match those of Defra and other bodies who claim that the new proposals will impact a far higher percentage of smaller farms than Labour are claiming, leading to them having to sell up, inevitably to larger concerns.

Its a similar argument to that around the winter fuel allowance for pensioners. Clearly, the country cannot afford to continue such blanket benefit payments and many well-off pensioners do not need the allowance. Personally, I have no issue with this but the concern is for those pensioners who might "fall between the cracks". Surely any such policy-whether on fuel allowance benefits or inheritance tax on farmers-should be graded rather than cliff-edge "all or nothing" ones? Government spending and taxation need to be far better targeted.