By Steve Perez

Family businesses like mine are the backbone of our economy.

So much so that Labour Chancellor Denis Healey introduced Business Property Relief (BPR) in 1976 specifically to protect them and help them to thrive.

Reducing inheritance tax on their assets, he said, would be "particularly helpful to the small businessman transferring his business over a period to his successors”.

So family businesses were dismayed, to put it mildly, when Healey's successor Rachel Reeves unveiled a surprise reform to BPR in last year's Budget.

Her changes mean an increase in inheritance tax from zero to 20 per cent on all assets worth over £1 million.

Much of the noise since the Budget has come from family farms that will be hit. It's time we consider the impact on family firms too.

The truth is simple: many medium‑sized family businesses cannot pay a sudden inheritance tax bill on land, buildings or machinery. These are illiquid assets - the very thing BPR was designed to protect.

The consequence? Businesses will be forced to sell core assets, break up operations, or restructure just to meet tax liabilities. The longevity of many family businesses will be seriously threatened. That is the opposite of what we should want to see in a thriving economy.

In my........

© LBC