The heir to JCB's manufacturing empire has warned that Labour's inheritance tax policy could force the UK-based business to relocate to the United States. Jo Bamford, son of chairman Lord Bamford, said the tax changes represented a 'real problem' for family-run firms and that JCB could 'quite easily become an American business'.
From April, only the first £2.5m of a business's assets will be eligible for tax relief after the owner's death, with the remainder taxed at 20%. The threshold was raised from £1m after an outcry from farmers, but Bamford argued that the relief is still insufficient to prevent the breakup of long-standing family enterprises.
'I love being here. I love our factories. But there's only so much you can ultimately do,' Bamford said. He noted that the US offers more favourable tax rates, making relocation an attractive option for the Staffordshire-based firm, which was founded by his grandfather in 1945.
Previously, farms and family-run businesses were shielded from inheritance tax through reliefs that allowed them to be passed down through generations. The Labour government targeted these reliefs in the 2024 Autumn Budget to make the system 'fairer' and reduce 'generous' tax breaks for large estates, amid concerns that the super-rich were abusing agricultural land purchases to sidestep tax.
A Treasury spokesperson defended the policy, stating: 'We’ve listened and raised the relief threshold to £2.5m to protect more small family businesses, while ensuring the largest make a fair contribution so we can deliver support for families and businesses, including cutting the cost of living.'
