DUMFRIES and Galloway Council will lobby the UK Government in defence of the region’s farmers who could suffer financially due to planned tax changes.
At the recent full council meeting, councillors voted to write a letter to Westminster demanding a delay to inheritance tax proposals that could see farmers and their families be hit hard in the pocket.
Annandale South Councillor George Jamieson, a former farmer, tabled the motion. The SNP councillor wants to see working commercial farmers, including owner occupiers and tenant farmers, be properly consulted with over the agricultural inheritance tax changes announced in the UK Budget. This is so that they can properly explain the damaging effects it could have on the rural, local economy.
Councillor Jamieson said: “As a council, we’re concerned about breaking this vital link between funding for Scotland’s farmers and our land mass, and changes to agricultural property relief that will affect orderly succession planning in farms locally and throughout Scotland.
“Dumfries and Galloway should seek a tax system which supports, rather than hinders, succession planning and the transfer of land to the next generation of custodians.
“It also recognises that land tax systems should be progressive, asking those with the greatest means to contribute more to our wellbeing economy.”
The motion was seconded by his SNP colleague, Annandale North Councillor Stephen Thompson, however there was a split in the council chambers.
Labour Councillor Keith Walters tabled an opposing amendment defending his party’s tax reforms.
The Nith Councillor said: “Inheritance tax isn’t just a tax on land, it’s a taxation on inherited wealth passed from one family member to another.
“So, it could include a business, machinery, or home. Inheritance tax doesn’t just affect agricultural, but other family-owned businesses and homes. Trying to link the two issues of inheritance and funding for farmers, as they (SNP) do in this motion is disingenuous.”
He added: “At a time when difficult decisions are needed to rebuild the country’s public finances, it’s just not credible for the SNP to ask the council to lobby to say that agriculture should be the only business that’s completely exempt from any inheritance tax whatsoever, no matter the value of the farm – whether it’s £1 million or £20 million.”
The issue went to the vote, with the result going 23-9 in favour of the council lobbying the UK Government for a delay to any changes, and for the exploration of devolving land taxation to Scotland.
