Farmers back Devon’s call for government to reconsider inheritance tax changes.

Tractors park up outside County Hall in Exeter

Farmers have lined their tractors outside Devon’s County Hall in support of efforts to encourage the government to rethink changes to inheritance tax on farms.

They parked the agricultural vehicles, adorned with campaign slogans incluuding one appeal for inheritance tax for all to be abolished, at the council’s HQ in Exeter.

Representatives also met with councillors to discuss their plight.

The tractors’ arrival came just hours before a motion proposed by Conservative member Lois Samuel (Conservative, Okehampton Rural) was put to full council on Thursday to try to get the authority to oppose the changes to agricultural property relief (APR), and to exempt family farms.

In the budget last month, the government announced changes that could make some farmers liable for inheritance tax when leaving farms in their wills.

Since 1984, agricultural land has been exempt from IHT, according to Full Fact, an independent fact-checking organisation.

Opponents to the changes believe the government has made them too punitive, and that efforts to charge wealthy landowners inheritance tax have ended up being a catch-all, potentially including working farms.

From April 2026, inheritance tax is to apply on the value of a farming estate over £1 million per owner, charged at 20 per cent – which is half the standard rate.

However, various other allowances mean an estate worth £1.5 million or less should not trigger the tax, and a married farming couple, or a farm owned by two people, going to children or grandchilder would mean estates valued at £3 million would be inheritance tax-free.

Speaking before the meeting, Cllr Samuel said her motion proposed that a letter signed by leaders of all the authority’s political parties was sent to the government to oppose the changes.

“I would say the majority of farmers will be taxed [under these changes] and at the end of the day, they bring food to the table and the countryside is beautiful due to farmers,” Cllr Samuel said.

“So I believe that they should not be penalised and be charged this tax as farmers will have to sell the land or sell farms completely [to pay an inheritance tax bill].

“That means there is not much hope for our generation or those to come so we are quite passionate about getting the chancellor to reconsider.”

Cllr Samuel added that as a farmer herself, she was “passionate” about the topic.

“As a farmer, I’m speaking from the heart and I know what this is going to do to us as a family.

The motion, which included a proposed exemption for family farms, was passed with a significant majority.

Liberal Democrat members suggested amendments to include the notion of protecting Devon’s own county farms estate, which encompasses 3,873 hectares across 65 farms. These amendments were accepted by Cllr Samuel and passed as part of the motion.

One of the farmers who brought his tractor to County Hall was James Brook, who farms land in the Teign Valley.

“This isn’t on, enough is enough as we can’t pass our farms on to our younger generations now because it will have to get sold up because of this tax,” he said.

“In the Teign Valley, we’ve got places where just a normal house can’t be bought for £1 million so we’d fall into [the inheritance tax bracket] with everything else a farm has.

“As soon as I heard the Budget my reaction was immediate, and we saw it on social media that everyone was angry about it.”

Mr Brook said he would “definitely reverse” the change, and suggested that it should be abolished entirely, for everyone and not just farmers.

“It’s not fair on anyone,” he said.

“You’ve just lost a family member and you’re grieving and so you don’t want to be worrying about shelling out all that money.”

Rob Hitch, an accountant specialising in farms, told Full Facts that farmers could reduce or avoid inheritance tax with proper estate planning, and that, as farmers have previously not had to concern themselves with the tax, many appear to be unaware of this. Anyone can pass on assets, with the rate of inheritance tax reducing to zero, provided they live for seven years after making the gift.