Dan Neidle, a Labour-supporting tax expert, has reversed his stance on the farming tax after digging further into the figures. Initially defending the policy, Neidle's new evidence indicates that the Budget will adversely affect ordinary farmers while failing to target wealthy tax avoiders. He said the cap should be raised to around £20m so that only the wealthiest farms become subject to inheritance tax. He went on to suggest a clawback mechanism to charge IHT on the land only if it was sold by its heirs. Mr Neidle also said Treasury and OBR estimates of how much the tax would raise were optimistic. Tim Bonner, CEO of the Countryside Alliance said: “Now that Mr Neidle and others have accepted that the Treasury's numbers don't add up the Chancellor has an opportunity to resolve what will otherwise become an increasingly angry and divisive campaign.” Finally, research by RSM reveals that children of unmarried farmers face paying an extra £100,000 in inheritance tax thanks to Labour’s death duty raid.
