Guido pointed out last week that the plethora of reports calling for Agricultural Property Relief annd other “loopholes” on farms to be scrapped were actually written by one man. Arun Advani, director of CenTax, is aided by co-director Andy Summers in pushing for higher taxes across the board. The Treasury admitted to Guido last week that Advani’s research was the intellectual basis of the farm tax…
Last month, in a definitive report on Inheritance Tax for his think tank, Advani states that the cap for Agricultural and Business relief for farms should be set at a miniscule combined £500,000. Half of the measly sum the government has set it at…
In order to prevent excessive fragmentation of farms as a result of that cap, which would reduce productivity, Advani advocates for “the state taking part-ownership of land and becoming the landlord to tenant farmers.” That farmland which went above the cap would presumably be expropriated and rented back to the previous farm owner. Perhaps they could be formed into some kind of large ‘collective’ farms?
To counter-act risks to food security from these extreme measures the farm tax’s architect says state subsidies should be directed towards “specific activities desired e.g. farming particular produce” as a “more appropriate way to ensure that the desired goals were being delivered.” Meanwhile, other gobsmacking proposals include removing IHT relief for funeral expenses and relief on bequests to charities, because that “effectively redirects tax revenues towards the charitable preferences of a very small number of people.” Pure planned-economy thinking…
The Treasury has already admitted Advani’s research has guided it on the farm tax as it currently exists. These proposals could give a taste of things to come, especially if farmers put up too much of a fuss. Things can always get worse…
Speaking to Adam Boulton on Times Radio about kicking the Golders Green suspect, Heidi Alexander said:
“I thought that if I was in the shoes of that police officer, then if I’m honest, given the situation, and the fact that he had a backpack on his back, and they were worried about whether that might go off, I could, if I was a police officer, frankly, I could see myself having taken similar action.”