Vat on Independent school fees?

[Brewster's millions]

It's one of the least controversial Labour policies around.

It only appears marginally controversial because so many in the media and politics, who are commenting on it, went to, or have kids at private school.

The vast majority of the population have almost no sympathy at all for the families affected.

View attachment 111834

How much sympathy, if any, would you feel towards families who send their children to private schools if they end up paying more because VAT was added to private school fees? | Daily Question

How much sympathy, if any, would you feel towards families who send their children to private schools if they end up paying more because VAT was added to private school fees?

yougov.co.uk

45% have some degree of sympathy, 45% don’t and there’s a relatively small number of don’t knows. So actually very evenly divided.

Interestingly the figures don’t change much across the social classes if you look at the data and there’s absolutely no proof at all behind your assertion as to why it’s proving controversial across the media.

And my main point around student loans, the likely cost of these to the taxpayer and their new treatment within the public finances remains.

 

[Bournemouth Blue]

It will just mean some parents who could afford private education will switch to State education. Whatever people think about the private system, those who can afford it save the State and taxpayers money, so this will put more pressure on the State education system. Same applies to private healthcare and dentistry, I pay full wack for for my dentist as there are no NHS dentists nearby, and if I had an urgent medical issue I would consider going private if I could afford it and the alternative was a long wait and decreasing chance of survival. It is a fact of life, we all pay much higher taxes or accept it

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

It doesn’t make it a luxury good.

That’s not the criterion for a good or service being subject to VAT.

Do you not agree that’s it’s a professional service?

 

[metalblue]

So adding another tax cut for people using private schools to the one they already have? Not sure that's going to go down too well :)

It's very, very different to childcare costs, which are not a choice (or the choice is between being able to go to work and not working, rather than giving your child a better education when free options are available).

That’s a fair distinction

 

[metalblue]

That’s not the criterion for a good or service being subject to VAT.

Do you not agree that’s it’s a professional service?

I wasn’t opining if it should or should not be subject to VAT. I was merely saying it’s not a luxury good.

 

[bluenova]

45% have some degree of sympathy, 45% don’t and there’s a relatively small number of don’t knows. So actually very evenly divided.

Interestingly the figures don’t change much across the social classes if you look at the data and there’s absolutely no proof at all behind your assertion as to why it’s proving controversial across the media.

And my main point around student loans, the likely cost of these to the taxpayer and their new treatment within the public finances remains.

Suggesting that someone saying they've "not much sympathy", is on the positive side is a bizarre take, given the four choice involved.

Also, support by social class jumps from 14 in C2DE to 23 in ABC1, so there is a significant difference.

However, that has no link with the statement I made. People in politics and the media, are MUCH more likely to have been to public school, or have kids at public school, so have a skewed view of the argument. ABC1, which is now more than half the population, is NOT the same as people high up in the media who have personal experience of public school.

 

[meltonblue]

Sam Freedman’s always a good read on this topic.

Why the Daily Mail’s defence of private schools doesn’t add up

Removing charitable status from private schools won’t lose Labour money – or voters.

www.newstatesman.com

This one’s really good but behind a paywall -

The Politics of Envy?

A response to every argument against VAT on private school fees

samf.substack.com

 

[domalino]

Pretty sure I raised my kids myself. Fuck sort of comment is that?

Some people hear private school and immediately think of some 19th century year round boarding school.

 

[domalino]

It will just mean some parents who could afford private education will switch to State education. Whatever people think about the private system, those who can afford it save the State and taxpayers money, so this will put more pressure on the State education system. Same applies to private healthcare and dentistry, I pay full wack for for my dentist as there are no NHS dentists nearby, and if I had an urgent medical issue I would consider going private if I could afford it and the alternative was a long wait and decreasing chance of survival. It is a fact of life, we all pay much higher taxes or accept it

This kind of thinking just creates a 2 tier country though.

Healthcare, dentistry and education are considered basic human rights in this country and fundamental duties of government. If there’s pressure on those systems then it’s the governments job to sort them out, not to take all their kids out, pay for a great service, and let all the plebs rot.



The average cost of private schooling is now £20k a year. The VAT on that would be £4k a year, £2.2Bn to the tax man.

That would pay for 300,000 kids to be state schooled.

So even if a few lower middle class parents pull their kids out of private, the rest will cover any added cost to the state 100x and if ringfenced would reverse the spending cuts the Tories have made to the DoE since coming to power by about 30%.

 

[Brewster's millions]

Suggesting that someone saying they've "not much sympathy", is on the positive side is a bizarre take, given the four choice involved.

Social class support jumps from 14 in C2DE to 23 in ABC1, so there is a significant jump. However, it has no link with the statement I made. People in politics and the media, are MUCH more likely to have been to public school, or have kids at public school, so have a skewed view of the argument. ABC1, which is now more than half the population is NOT the same as people high up in the media who have personal experience of public school.

Quoting opinion polls and then making broad sweeping statements about people in the media - a bit contradictory isn’t it?

On a broader point I would say that a policy proposal doesn’t have to be front and centre of public opinion, or indeed generate any strong reaction from the general public in the first instance, for it to be regarded as controversial.

This particular policy is controversial because it’s unclear whether it will actually prove a net positive for the public finances. Another, related controversial element is that parents who opt for private education are reducing the burden on the state while not receiving any offset in their taxation, but now face additional costs. The arguments for and against on this thread, which in most cases make fair points, also suggest it’s a controversial issue even if it’s not prompting the same sort of debate across the general public.