The owner of a holiday park chain in the southwest of England has said that his son will be forced to sell parts of the business when he inherits it, thanks to slated changes in how Business Property Relief works. 

Ian James, owner of Coast and Country Holiday Parks, said that Labour’s plan to introduce 20 per cent inheritance tax on all business property valued over £1m was “a massive blow” to the domestic holiday sector, and that on his passing his son would likely have to sell property and make redundancies in order to stump up enough liquid assets to meet the tax man’s demands. 

“We’re a group of four holiday parks, we employ just under 30 people,” he told the BBC earlier this week. “With the current situation, probably two of the parks would have to be sold in order to cover the tax liability…which would mean they wouldn’t be family-owned parks.”

“It would mean almost certainly job losses and cutbacks if corporates came in and took over,” he added. 

James’ comments came just as William Lees-Jones of JW Lees Brewery made similar critique of the proposed BPR amendment. 

Posting on LinkedIn this week, Lees labelled the move a “family business tax grab,” and warned that family companies would “either fail or be sold” as a result.