Billionaires and other investors who rewild agricultural land in the UK may no longer be liable for inheritance tax on the property when they die thanks to changes announced in the budget.
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expanding the type of land that’s exempt from the levy to include some projects such as turning farmland back into forests, managing grassland for flood resilience or connecting river and floodplain habitats. The tax break comes into effect in April of next year and only applies to land managed under an environmental agreement involving the UK government or other approved bodies.
Off the top of my head, you could: continue to charge inheritance tax on the land, resulting in 40% going into public ownership, and rewild the now-publicly-owned land.
Forgive me as I’m not exactly a tax expert, but inheritance tax doesn’t result in public ownership does it? I thought the land would need to be sold by the owner before it was publicly owned? Or are you saying the the money generated by the inheritance tax could be spent rewilding already publicly owned land?
I was thinking that the land could be given in lieu of tax (like oil paintings are), but equally, the estate could sell the land to pay the tax directly, and the government could buy it. Or, like you say, the state could just use the money to rewild land that is already publicly owned. The problem with the proposed scheme is that the land remains in private hands, and the private landowners may try to un-re-wild it. I am thinking about Dartmoor there. Why would they want to own a tract of wild countryside, after all?
Yeah, they’re all good ideas actually. What I wasn’t clear from the article is whether the land will be regularly audited to ensure its not, as you say, ‘unwilded’ at a later date. Given capacity issues I imagine it won’t beyond a certain point so that is definitely a risk, as you point out.
Still it is better than nothing, so it’s important to remain optimistic. I can see at least some land owners wanting to do this, and this incentive will hopefully be enough to encourage them to do so. Time will tell!