Elderly farmers hit ‘suicide window’ by inheritance tax changes

The Telegraph spoke to a farmer from the south west who said her own father had talked about taking his own life within the next eighteen months.

The fifth-generation farmer said: “The government has intentionally or unwittingly created a suicide window whereby farmers are incentivized to commit suicide. I can understand that the government is doing this by accident. But any government that knows about it and does nothing to shut it down is morally unfit to govern the country.”

“My father has been farming for decades and is away in all weathers. Now he says he must die by April 2026 because it is a way to protect his life’s work. It’s just terrible.

“My father’s case is not unusual. This causes concern for many families. People almost feel the pressure, they feel like it’s an honorable thing for their family to protect their family so they don’t hit their kids with a huge inheritance tax bill.”

“Terrible pressure and huge nerves”

Farming groups are calling for it to be easier for farmers over 80 to pass on their estates without having to pay hefty inheritance tax.

However, the Treasury denies it is considering the move, which would ease the government’s tax raid on farmers.

Dominic Armstrong, a 59-year-old farmer from West Berkshire, said: “The suicide window is the talk of the town among farmers from Northumberland to Hampshire and Cornwall. Children are afraid that their parents will do something stupid to save them.

“Suddenly there is tremendous pressure and enormous nervousness about what people think. Can you imagine any government in the free world forcing people to make such a choice? This is more than despicable.”

Last week, Steve Reid, the environment minister, was confronted at a conference by a farmer who said the “only sure way” to avoid the government’s “farm tax” was to “kill yourself.”