Arun Advani, a left-wing academic who works for two think tanks cited by the government agriculture's minister, has been exposed as the man whose research appears to be behind Labour’s family farm tax misery.
Mr Advani, a university lecturer and Guardian columnist, has published research calling to cap farmers’ IHT relief via the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax), where he is a director, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, where he is a research fellow.
Both think tanks were cited by Labour ministers James Murray and Daniel Zeichner in their recent defence of their farm tax raid that saw farmers’ relief from IHT capped at £1million.
The move caused uproar as farmers would be forced to sell chunks of land or machinery to foot massive tax bills when a death occurs, breaking up land that has been passing through families for generations and worsening the UK’s food security.
Critics questioned whether the paltry £500million the Treasury hope to raise from the move- enough to fund the NHS for one day- is worth the misery inflicted on some farmers whose life’s work to pass their farm to their children has been destroyed.
Mr Advani, an urban-dwelling Doctor of Economics with four degrees from Cambridge and UCL, specialises in "inequality, tax compliance, and tax design, with a focus on those with high incomes or wealth."
In one of the papers he penned on inheritance tax which Labour top brass have swallowed, he wrote: “There are several problems with the current design of inheritance taxation.
“Reliefs for agricultural and business assets and certain classes of shares, and the total exemption of pension pots from inheritance tax, open up channels to avoid the tax....
“There is a clear case for eliminating the special treatment of all of these types of assets.”
In his research, Mr Advani also suggests farms would be better off in the hands of professional managers and shareholders, not families, as they know how to run a more profitable business.
He wrote: “Evidence also suggests that family-owned businesses run by family members don’t perform as well as those run by professional managers or by shareholders.
“From a productivity perspective, there isn’t much reason to try to keep these businesses in family hands.”
He listed 'abolish agricultural relief' as an option for reform to IHT.
Most job websites in the UK predict Associate University Professors like Advani to earn around £65,000pa.
This doesn't include the eight other active ‘appointments’ Mr Advani lists on his CV like ‘fellowships’ and ‘research affiliates’, all which are highly likely to rake in extra cash.
Farmers, meanwhile, are feeling the pinch. Government statistics show 17% of UK farms failed to make a profit in 2022/23, while 59% made a profit of less than £50,000, leaving little scope to pay inheritance tax out of farm income.
The Country Land and Business Association recent financial modelling on Labour's farm tax found an average 200 acre arable farm in England would see its profits totally wiped out every year for ten years to pay an IHT bill in the event of a death.
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Mr Advani believes farms like Olly Harrison's would be better off owned by a professional manager or shareholders
Olly Harrison
Mr Advani, who sits on the advisory board of the OBR, said at Labour Conference that he was “optimistic” because the Labour government is “genuinely listening” to his ideas.
Critics have highlighted Labour’s tax hike as an ideological attack on country folk who they perceive to be Range Rover driving millionaires like Jeremy Clarkson.
This comes after an ex-Blair adviser provoked fury after he told GB News last night: “We can do to the farmers what Thatcher did to the miners.”
John McTernan, former senior Labour adviser who was Tony Blair’s Director of Political Operations, also said: “It’s an industry we could do without. We don’t need small farmers.”
The clip has racked up millions of views online, drawing furious reaction from farmers, voters and celebrities alike who believe Labour’s tax hike is an ideologically driven attack on a targeted section of society and not about raising money.
McTernan does not work for the current Labour government and Keir Starmer has rejected his words.
Mr Advani has been approached for comment.
