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00:00Can I implore the Minister to look at an exemption for farmers who, at the risk of sounding macabre,
00:06but to make myself clear, are too late in life to plan for this proposed change.
00:12I hope the Minister and the Chair can forgive my emotion when you sit with an elderly farmer
00:17and his wife, and with both fighting back the tears, they tell you, if only I could
00:23die now, if only there was some kind of pill I could take now so that my children won't
00:28have to worry about this. It does have a really profound effect on you.
00:33Let me be clear. I support progressive taxation to ensure that the wealthiest pay their fair
00:39share towards the upkeep of our society. In the 21st century, we see individual plutocrats
00:45and super-wealthy multinationals buying up agricultural land to avoid paying inheritance
00:51tax with no intention of using it for farming. This reduces our farmed land, which we can
00:57ill-afford when we have a fast-growing population in an unstable world.
01:02Can I respectfully request that the Minister considers raising the threshold? If this policy
01:08is to target those who buy farmland solely to dodge inheritance tax, then let's make
01:13it so. Raise the threshold and actually increase the rate for people like that so that no family
01:21farm is affected.
01:22Passing assets at the point of selling rather than at the point of passing to another generation
01:29would be a fairer measure to keep family farms. These organisations, these experts could have
01:35proposed these solutions before the Government made its decision, underlying again the importance
01:40of proper consultation with stakeholders. Every farmer deserves the right of the security
01:47of the farm they own or rent. Farms are not businesses, they are family legacies, vital
01:54for our rural economy and key to preserving our Welsh-speaking culture. Plaid Cymru supports
02:00closing loopholes that allow billionaire landowners to avoid paying their fair share, but this
02:05one-size-fits-all approach ignores the unique challenges of Welsh farming. That's why it's
02:12so important that the UK Government implements a Wales-specific impact assessment that reflects
02:19the realities of agriculture in Wales.