![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/James-Dyson-warned-about-the-inheritance-tax-grab.jpg\")
\t\tJames Dyson said his family ‘could not pay’ the reformed inheritance tax \t<\/p>\n\t\t\tThursday 16 April 2026 2:00 pm
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThursday 16 April 2026 4:16 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tJames Dyson said his family ‘could not pay’ the reformed inheritance tax \t<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s inheritance tax crackdown has sparked a wave of warnings from entrepreneurs. We list some of the biggest names to have spoken out in opposition to the changes.<\/p>\n
To most avid followers of current affairs, the Autumn Budget of 2024 will feel like a lifetime ago. <\/p>\n
Since then, Donald Trump has been elected to the White House, upended the global trading system with his tariffs and set off the most expansive regional conflict the Middle East has seen in recent history.<\/p>\n
Closer to home, the Labour party has fallen from first to third place in most national polls. Interest rates have fallen from five per cent to below four. And, most seismic of all, David and Victoria Beckham have fallen out with their eldest son, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
But notwithstanding the last 17 months\u2019 barrage of economic and political news, the effects of that fateful fiscal event \u2013 the Labour party\u2019s first in more than 14 years \u2013 are still being felt. <\/p>\n
Its most totemic measure \u2013 the shock \u00a325bn employers\u2019 National Insurance<\/a> raid \u2013 is partly attributed for the current youth joblessness crisis and disintegrating labour market.<\/p>\n Capital gains tax receipts have<\/a>, in fact, fallen in response to another crackdown intended to raise revenue for the Exchequer.<\/p>\n And to its credit, the historic uplift to NHS budgets appears to have brought waiting list times down gradually (or at least it did before being jeopardised by the latest round of junior doctor strikes).<\/p>\n What is the inheritance tax change?<\/p>\n But nearly a year and a half on, the fiscal measure attracting the most ire today is one that \u2013 among the spate of other eye-catching changes \u2013 largely went under the radar when it was first announced. <\/p>\n The government\u2019s decision to axe an inheritance tax carve-out that had been granted to family businesses for decades failed to attract attention \u2013 in part because it was accompanied by a parallel clampdown on farms. And as is their wont, agricultural workers consumed much of the available oxygen as they drove dozens of tractors down Whitehall as part of a series of nationwide protests.<\/p>\n Since the change came into force earlier this month, though, there has been crescendo of warnings that family businesses will either have to be broken up or sold off on a business owner\u2019s death in order to foot the inheritance tax bill have ensued.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t Business Property Relief<\/a> \u2013 as the carve-out was called \u2013 allowed individuals to pass down ownership of their family business completely free from inheritance tax. <\/p>\n Brought into law under a Labour government in the 1970s, it was introduced to allow business owners to run and manage their firm knowing their death wouldn\u2019t land their offspring with a large tax bill.<\/p>\n But at its maiden Budget, the current government ended that allowance, announcing that from April 2026 any shareholding in a family business over and above \u00a31m would be taxed at a reduced rate of 20 per cent (inheritance tax is usually taxed at 40 per cent on the value of an estate above \u00a3325,000).<\/p>\n Thanks largely to farmers\u2019 assiduous campaigning, the Treasury has since watered down the measures, raising the threshold to \u00a32.5m. But that hasn\u2019t stopped some of Britain\u2019s most renowned entrepreneurs and business owners warning that the measure will force their children to sell off or break up their business, and has encouraged them to stop inevesting in their firm in order to keep the eventual tax bill down.<\/p>\n Here is a list of what entrepreneurs have said about the tax, and how it stands to affect their firms:<\/p>\n James Dyson \u2013 founder, Dyson Speaking to Radio 4\u2019s Today programme in December<\/a>, Sir James Dyson warned that his consumer electronics giant will be unable to foot what promises to be a multi-billion-pound inheritance tax bill on his death, meaning his family will \u201chave to sell the business\u201d.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tScrap inheritance tax!<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cCompanies are valued on a multiple of their earnings,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you\u2019re paying 40 per cent of a multiple of your earnings, that\u2019s billions in my case. We haven\u2019t got billions of cash\u2026 so you have to sell the business to pay it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA company has no value. There\u2019s no assets that you can sell. Its value is a multiple of its profits. So it\u2019s paper money. You simply don\u2019t have [it].\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Rocco Forte \u2013 founder, Rocco Forte Hotels Rocco Forte, whose empire of luxury hotels spans across Italy, the UK and Belgium, echoed the remarks made by Dyson, telling City AM that his offspring would have to sell off hotels, or similar, to foot their looming bill.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIf I drop dead tomorrow \u2013 and if you suddenly have inheritance tax charged even on 20 per cent of the whole value of the family businesses \u2013 there\u2019s no way my family can pay that tax without selling the business or breaking it up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s not about my business, it\u2019s about the overall effect on all the businesses which are very important.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve Perez \u2013 founder, Global Brands Among a host of other drinks, Steve Perez\u2019s Global Brands is best known for making the alopop marques VK and Hooch, upmarket tonic Franklin and Sons and the Gather range of pre-mixed cocktails.<\/p>\n But the drinks tycoon told City AM<\/a> he is making arrangements to lower his offspring\u2019s exposure to inheritance tax after he dies by pausing investment in a hotel business and a plant. He has even launched a legal challenge over the changes, which he will argue did not go through the requisite consultation process.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI\u2019ve had to cut back investing in a new factory. I\u2019ve had to pull investment in hotel and spa that already had planning permission, because all it will mean is my family will have a bigger tax bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Lizzy Rudd \u2013 chair, Berry Bros and Rudd<\/p>\n Berry Bros and Rudd is Britain\u2019s oldest wine merchant. From its iconic store front in St James\u2019s, it has been passed down from generation to generation for over three centuries.<\/p>\n But its current chair, Lizzy Rudd, has warned the government\u2019s decision to end Business Property Relief will end a centuries-old tradition of family members trying to grow the vintner in a sustainable, consistent manner. <\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/James-Dyson-inheritance-tax.jpg\")
Dyson said he would have to sell his firm unless inheritance tax laws changed<\/p>\n![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/hotel-owner-Sir-Rocco-Forte.jpg\")
Hotel magnate Sir Rocco Forte <\/p>\n![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Steve_Perez.jpg\")
Steve Perez, founder of VK-maker Global Brands<\/p>\n
![\"Jo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jo-Bamford-JCB.jpg\")
Bamford said the inheritance tax plans were a \u2018real problem\u2019<\/p>\n