James Dyson: Reeves’ inheritance tax hike ‘is killing geese that lay golden eggs’
Billionaire Sir James Dyson has again hit out at Rachel Reeves for her tax raid budget, saying British family businesses are being “fleeced”.
The British entrepreneur, 77, hit out at the Chancellor in a letter to The Times, writing that Reeves will “kill off” British family businesses with a “vindictive” budget, including inheritance tax hikes.
“She is killing the geese that lay the golden eggs,” he said.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the Budget on October 30 that business assets over £1m would be charged 20 per cent inheritance tax from April 2026, half the standard rate. The first £1m of assets would remain exempt from inheritance tax.
This comes after it was revealed that one of the UK’s richest hedge fund managers paid the most tax in the UK this year, contributing over £339m in just 12 months, according to the Sunday Times Tax list.
“Reading The Sunday Times Tax List, I calculate that at least 60 of the top 100 UK taxpayers are owners of family businesses, with an annual tax contribution to the Exchequer of £3bn. Such companies employ 14m people and contribute many more billions — year in, year out — funding vital public services.”
“This is what Rachel Reeves will kill off with her budget,” Dyson said.
Dyson previously has branded Rachel Reeves’ first Budget as “ignorant” and “spiteful”.
The Gloucester-based billionaire, who owns over 35,000 acres of farmland, stands to lose £120m in death duties due to the tax change, according to the Financial Times.
“It is only British family businesses that are being fleeced and decimated like this – private equity and publicly quoted businesses are not touched.”
“Reeves will destroy both the family businesses themselves and a source of untold billions in tax revenue to raise a maximum of £500m by 2030, according to the Treasury’s forecast,’ Dyson added.
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has previously said he has “no sympathy” with “arguments on inheritance tax and the impact on family farms and agriculture… this is special pleading by some extremely wealthy people.”
“There’s no other country in Europe or hardly any others that completely exempt business assets and agricultural assets from inheritance tax. We never used to, didn’t destroy family farms. I’m disappointed actually to see such special pleading given such prominence.”