They're not even hiding it anymore
They're not even hiding it anymore
Being loaded is subjective of course but come on dude, anyone who can afford school fees that high is doing OK. That isn't an assumption, it's just obviously true. There's no way I could afford it and I earn a decent salary. I take the point about being cash rich vs assets rich and noted about the mortgages. I accept that you know a lot more about all this than me. I also accept that some people who have been making plans based on how the rules were are now going to be shafted because the rules changed. But I doubt it's as many people as certain people are claiming. A load of younger people can take advantage of the 7 year thing to mitigate this. You say £3m isn't a lot - I mean, it objectively is. That's a shit-ton of assets to have. It would put you in the top few percent in the country. People might not want to sell some of their land or sell up completely, but they do have that option and it would make them extremely rich if they do. So overall there are a lot of people in much worse situations.
I have some sympathy for older people who were making plans along the lines of the old rules and their children are now left with a problem, but any change in the rules is going to affect some people and therefore seem unfair to them.
This made me chuckle although you may be too young to get the reference.
Yes it’s true that when you take into account the assets, these people are “rich” but that’s only on paper. They don’t realise the wealth until they sell. Now you might think it’s a good thing that farmers are forced to sell land to pay inheritance tax but I would argue the opposite. Theyll need all the land they have to make a profit, if they sell to pay tax, the profitability of the farm becomes worse meaning that they might decide to sell up completely.
Now who has the money to buy a farm worth several million? Only the wealthiest landowners & big city hedge funds etc. do you want all the farm land being owned by them? I suspect not. Or of course, the other issue is they sell to developers meaning we end up with no farm land and being entirely reliant on food security from overseas, which again probably not a good idea either.
To be honest, farmers would be better off becoming public sector workers. They seem to be exempt from IHT for some unknown reason - https://www.gbnews.com/money/rachel-...-public-sector
I don't think it's a good thing, but I do think the impact of this has been overstated and it won't affect anywhere as many people as some are claiming. I also think there are people more deserving of sympathy than anyone who owns land worth over £3m. I'm sure there are some family farms which will discontinue as a result of this and sure, that is a shame. But it won't decimate the UK farming industry.
But it's not going to be all the farmland, is it? It doesn't affect most farms, those it does affect there are ways around this like the 7 year thing. Not an option for some older farmers, sure, but for many people it will be. Some people will just be able to afford to pay of course without selling up - don't farmers still have much longer to pay this than other people? Some farms may get sold to developers and I agree that would be a shame, but it won't be that many. And those that do sell will have millions in the bank, they're not going to be on the streets.Now who has the money to buy a farm worth several million? Only the wealthiest landowners & big city hedge funds etc. do you want all the farm land being owned by them? I suspect not.
Well that's a policy I think we can all get behindTo be honest, farmers would be better off becoming public sector workers. They seem to be exempt from IHT for some unknown reason - https://www.gbnews.com/money/rachel-...-public-sector
I didn't even know IHT could be applied to pensions and I'm not sure how that would work for defined benefits pensions. My pension statement just tells me how much my pension will be, there is no pot of money assigned to me individually to pay that so I don't know what IHT would be based on. When I was in the private sector I did get statements with how much was in the pot and how much my pension could be but of course that was just a projection. But I paid that amount in to the Public Sector scheme when I started this job.