During a press conference held with Prime Minister Keir Starmer as part of President Trump's four-day trip to Scotland, GB News journalist Beverley Turner asked how important farmers were to a country amid a backdrop of the UK changes to inheritance tax.听
President Trump explained that the US has ended the estate tax on farms.
He said: 鈥淲hen a parent leaves their farm [...] a lot of these farms don't make a lot of money, but it's a way of life and they love that way of life.鈥�
鈥淭he current policy fails to achieve the government鈥檚 stated intentions of closing a loophole and protecting family farms.鈥�
NFU President Tom Bradshaw
Mr Trump said farmers would borrow money to pay the estate tax but were not able to pay it, adding that some banks were 鈥渞uthless鈥�.听
鈥淲e have totally ended the estate tax and those situations, so there's no estate tax,鈥� he said.
鈥淪o when a parent leaves the farm to the kids, they don't have to worry about their local, possibly unfriendly banker coming in and stealing their farm.鈥�
The current policy fails
In response, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: 鈥淲hile the farming environment in the US and UK are very different, farmers in both countries are land rich but cash poor and the President was right to point that out.
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鈥淭he US recognised that such a tax wasn鈥檛 conducive to running family businesses and producing food, and that it was having a detrimental impact on farmers鈥� wellbeing. As is right in that situation, it took action to rectify the policy.听
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鈥淲hile we are not asking the UK Government to completely abolish inheritance tax, we are asking them for some introspection. Because the current policy fails to achieve the government鈥檚 stated intentions of closing a loophole and protecting family farms.
鈥淥耻谤 鈥榗lawback鈥� method provides the solution; it allows Treasury to raise revenues without tearing apart farming families and removes the extreme mental toll this is placing on some members of our community.鈥�
