The Green Party has urged Defra Secretary Michel Gove to end the use of agricultural land as a 'tax haven'.
Green Party MEP Molly Scott Cato said she will be laying down the challenge to Mr Gove, urging him to end the use of agricultural land as a "tax haven and tax shelter".
Dr Scott Cato, who sits on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, will speak at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) this week, which will also be attended by Mr Gove.
He will be the first Defra secretary to take to the stage at this alternative farming event which runs parallel to the long-established Oxford Farming Conference (OFC).
Ahead of her speech at ORFC, Molly Scott Cato said Gove must "call time" on the UK's largest land owners who are "using agricultural land to hide and shelter their wealth".
'Stifles innovation'
Agricultural land offers generous tax breaks as it is exempt from inheritance tax after two years if it is actively farmed.
“The fact that the sale of a farming asset can be rolled over into a new business or acquisition offers further tax relief,” she added.
Last summer, Michael Gove said that post-Brexit farm subsidies will be based on measures to protect the environment and enhance rural life, rather than on the amount of land farmers own.
But Dr Scott Cato says he must go much further: “Land banking and earning an income from land assets also encourages a rentier economy and stifles innovation. If Michael Gove is to bring about genuine radical reform he will need to challenge the large land owners.
“Nobody can seriously suggest that we should be subsidising set ups like that of international racehorse breeders Juddmonte Farms which is owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.”
