Farmer Charlie takes us on a journey of hypocrisy, contradictions and rudeness that thankfully have been countered by numerous comments online, of which just a small fraction are below.
Well done Charlie, you prat
You just made a complete fool of yourself on national radio.
How embarrassing.
Love Louise
Dear Charlie
I live in a rural area. A neighbour has a salaried day job but owns land and keeps a flock of sheep. Her SUV, diesel, garage bills, tyres, outdoor clothing, repairs to property, etc. are all claimed against income tax. She uses her SUV about twice a year to haul livestock Trailer, 99% of her driving is her daily commute to work. In addition, she receives all the payments, subsidies and grants that farmers can get. In my work, the head of department also had a family farm. He always asked for a receipt when buying his lunch in the canteen. I never saw anyone else do this. I wonder what that was about. In my experience, the self-employed people I know do the same thing regarding expenses, dining out, and trips somewhere. It seems to me only the PAYE people and a minority of others actually pay the tax they should; they are the tax cow for all the rest who are ‘at it’. The farmers are squealing because, having had preferential treatment for years, they are aggrieved at being treated like everyone else. There’s an awful lot of Range Rovers and Discovery 5’s at the sheep shows I’ve been to and in the Highland Show car park. Sure, there are also poor farmers, but the agri barons are having a laugh, or were.
Love Barry
Rude Charlie Makes An Arse Of Himself
Dear Charlie
The level of misunderstanding among the farming community on this issue is even greater than the lack of understanding of how Brexit would impact agriculture. This is no mistake. The same wealthy speculators who wanted to protect their income tax dodges from EU scrutiny are now skewing the narrative on this issue to protect their inheritance tax dodges.
Love Ty
Dear Charlie
Years ago I had a conversation at a party with a 60+ year old farmer. It was the first I’d heard about farming land being exempt from IHT. He told me that when the exemption was brought in, it had the effect of artificially raising the cost of farming land to the point where many real farmers were priced out and so much of the land being bought by the wealthy as a tax loophole was either laid unproductive or ended up being rented back to farmers to work at inflated rates, making many farmers poorer and the very wealthy even richer. It has made some farmers who do own their land very wealthy and many investors very wealthy too. Tax should be fair (I know it isn’t), but Labour have made the right decision here to make the system fairer and stop the very wealthy from exploiting us all.
Love Jonesy
Dear Charlie
You have just shown how out of touch some farmers are. You have just illustrated that you are a self-centered individual who cannot see past the end of your nose.
Love Will
Last but not least:
Most farmers voted for Brexit, which has cost our country £100 billion so far. Its only right then that some of the wealthier farmers should help pay back into the “black hole” it has created. After all, my wife and I are pensioners, and we lost our winter fuel allowance, and we don’t get any benefits or special tax breaks like the farmers. We’re struggling, but we just carry on. Farmers should be grateful they have a living after Brexit. STOP COMPLAINING and stop being taken in by misinformation from the likes of the nut jobs like Faridge.
Love Someone Who Understands Economics.
Learn more…
