Councillors urging Chancellor to overturn family farm tax

Causeway Coast and Glens Council is to write to the Chancellor calling for the government to overturn its inheritance tax plans.
In the autumn budget 2024 the UK government announced reforms to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) from inheritance tax.

From April 2026, inheritance tax relief for business and for agricultural assets will be capped at £1mn, with a new reduced rate of 20% being charged above that (rather than the standard inheritance tax rate of 40%).
The tax would be payable in installments over 10 years interest free.

Since this announcement farmers across the North have voiced their opposition to the move.
Over 6,000 farmers and landowners turned out at the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) rally last month at the Eikon Exhibition Centre.

Councillors backed two motions on the issue at Tuesday's full council meeting.
Coleraine based PUP councillor Russell Watton described the government's tax as a 'disaster'.

Alderman Watton said: “In the Labour Governments’s manifesto this was never mentioned, not once, what was mentioned was going after the fraudsters and the tax avoidance schemes. There is money out there that they could go after instead of lifting off agricultural tax.

“They haven’t done what they said they were going to do and there is no sign of them doing it yet. The pin stripe suits are only looking after the pin stripe suits.”

SDLP councillor Micheal Coyle said the farming sector has been 'under strain' for a number of years and the new tax has the potential to cause more pressure for farmers.

Cllr Coyle said: “I am in no way an expert on farming or agriculture but I know that we all need the farmers. I use all their products and I’m sure none of us in this chamber can do without the food they produce. Farmers have been under strain for the past number of years, one of the big things that did affect them was Brexit and things have not got better for them since that.

“I do notice there are a lot of small farms here. This tax may create more smaller farms, which I notice there is a lot of machinery and debt as well. Many farmers have second jobs and this is going to create stress outside of the agricultural industry.”

Representatives from the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) met Steve Reed who leads the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) yesterday.