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I’m a farmer – and I’m glad to see tax loopholes closing for cynical investor landowners | Guy Singh-Watson
It could have been better designed, but Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tweak will help farmers with mud on their boots
Should multimillionaire landowners benefit from a tax break designed to help small family farms pass down their land to their children? This is a hotly contested question, given last week’s budget. Labour has reintroduced 20% inheritance tax for farms that are valued at more than £1m, meaning the children of farmers will no longer inherit land tax-free. Granted, 20% is still only half of the standard inheritance tax rate, and it probably sounds more than generous to an ex-miner, foundry worker or shipbuilder. But today, £1m would only buy you about 40 hectares (100 acres) of farmland, which is far short of a viable farm.
Farming is a long-term business that requires substantial assets and often makes only meagre returns. Farming families have not had to consider tax planning for family succession since 1992. As a second-generation farmer, I support much of the budget. But on the inheritance tax threshold, I thought, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, had got it wrong. The positive reading of her decision is that she was trying to close a loophole whereby wealthy people buy up farmland and pass it, tax-free, to their children. If that was the main objective, though, the threshold should have been set substantially higher than £1m.
Guy Singh-Watson is the founder of the organic veg box company Riverford and a member of Patriotic Millionaires UK. He grows organic vegetables on 60 hectares (150 acres) in Devon and 120 hectares (300 acres) in the French Vendée. He sold Riverford in 2018 to its 1,000 employees, and the company is now 100% employee-owned
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Continue reading...COP29 chief exec caught promoting fossil fuel deals
Odour of oil and return of Trump hang heavy over Cop29 in Baku
Prospects of strong outcome appear dim but there is hope the talks will address pressing issue of climate finance
More than 100 heads of state and government are expected to land in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, over the next few days and the first thing they are likely to notice is the smell of oil. The odour hangs heavy in the air, evidence of the abundance of fossil fuels in this small country on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Flaring from refineries lights up the night sky, and the city is dotted with diminutive “nodding donkey” oil wells raising and lowering their pistons as they draw from the earth. Even the national symbol is a gas flame, epitomised in the shape of three skyscrapers that tower over the city.
Continue reading...Offshore wind project wins court appeal over rejected licence in Gippsland
The post Offshore wind project wins court appeal over rejected licence in Gippsland appeared first on RenewEconomy.
‘Essential to act now’ to prevent chaotic climate breakdown, warns UN chief
On the eve of Cop29 in Baku, António Guterres says dangers are underestimated as irreversible tipping points near
The world is still underestimating the risk of catastrophic climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse, the UN secretary general has warned in the run-up to Cop29, acknowledging that the rise in global heating is on course to soar past 1.5C (2.7F) over pre-industrial levels in the coming years.
Humanity is approaching potentially irreversible tipping points such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest and the Greenland ice sheet as global temperatures rise, António Guterres has said, warning that governments are not making the deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions needed to limit warming to safe levels.
Continue reading...10 reasons why Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action
The post 10 reasons why Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“HOFF and HON:” Gold mine passes key test, shifts to 100 pct renewables and back again
The post “HOFF and HON:” Gold mine passes key test, shifts to 100 pct renewables and back again appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Alinta signs early contractor deal for first multi-billion dollar pumped hydro project
Alinta signs early contracting deal for proposed multi-billion dollar pumped hybrid project in NSW.
The post Alinta signs early contractor deal for first multi-billion dollar pumped hydro project appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Land deal signed for deep storage to create Broken Hill mini grid, but network rules still stand in the way
The post Land deal signed for deep storage to create Broken Hill mini grid, but network rules still stand in the way appeared first on RenewEconomy.
10 reasons why US president-elect Donald Trump can’t derail global climate action
Energy Insiders Podcast: Trump is back, and the frog is still boiling
The post Energy Insiders Podcast: Trump is back, and the frog is still boiling appeared first on RenewEconomy.