Labour Intends To Add 20% Vat To Private School Fees ...

[naomi24]

... which will put private schooling out of reach of many parents, resulting in an added burden to the already over-crowded classrooms in state schools.   Similarly, they say they are against private health care which also alleviates the burden on the State system.  Nevertheless, Mr Starmer would rather his loved ones suffer than use it.   So the question is when 'going private' means that people take responsibility for themselves it follows that the State has less to cope with, so what's so bad about it?

[ToraToraTora]

Lefties want us all reliant on the state. They hate the idea that anyone gets off their April to make a better life. They must be punished, they must be lowered to the lowest common denominator.

[mushroom25]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/private-schools-vat-labour-reeves-b2566493.html

whilst not a U Turn, has the party switched on its turn indicator?

[Hymie]

I pay VAT on all sorts of supposed luxuries that I purchase, private tuition fees would appear more deserving to have VAT added to them than say toiletries (such as toothpaste, toilet roll etc).

[gulliver1]

If it applies to Eton college and Oxford University. I hope Labour make it 50% vat . Keep Britain safe from the Bullingdon club Idiotic vandals and prats like Cameron Johnson and Osborne.

 

[Prudie]

Talking of prats you don't pay to get into Oxford University.

[sandyRoe]

I'd like to see all schools operating at such a standard that no parent would think it necessary to buy advantage for their children.

[davebro3]

^^^^^^🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[bhg481]

Prudie - tuition fees?

Gromit - the Bullingdon Club members will be from the families who can afford the VAT, so no change there.

[davebro3]

that to sandy

[Atheist]

Do any of these private schools charge parents according to their means? If richer parents paid a bit more they would  enable poorer parents to pay what they could afford.

[bhg481]

Atheist - some do scholarships for gifted children but why should some parents subsidise others?

[Ryzen]

Just paving the way for VAT on private healthcare :-)

[Prudie]

You pay tuition fees at all universities but you don't PAY to get accepted in the first place. JW.

[Atheist]

bhg. Vat-free schools are charitable organisations. Surely they could adjust their acceptance policies so as to be a bit charitabl and have a sliding scale. I'm not suggesting that the school should expect richer parents to give to the poorer ones; they should simply explain to prospective parents that they have a sliding scale, and then parents could choose to go elsewhere.

[Old_Geezer]

It's bad in the sense that it allows the rich to have the option of a better (if it is better) service that has been deemed a right for all citizens. Managing to attract and extract society's wealth to yourself, or having ancestors who did so, usually allows you to buy luxuries, but it's morally debatable for purchasing necessities.

 

As I see it private schools & colleges are businesses and so should attract the same taxation as other businesses, not be a special case exempt from it. It will still be the case that only those who can find the money can purchase the service, but that has always been so.

 

This argument that it'll put a burden on the state schools isn't a good one. Let it. Ensure enough schools are built and running, as the taxpayer is entitled to expect. If some private ones go bust because their business wasn't viable without the tax being waived then that'd put school property on the market for the State to purchase just at the time it needs it.

[Atheist]

Hear, hear, OG.

[webbo3]

Any Labour MPs using a private school as some do can put it on their expenses.

[douglas9401]

Maybe 'borrowing' consultants from NHS hospitals to work in private ones a couple of days a week is a bad thing.

The same doctor whose list you can't get on to at your local hospital is miraculously available elsewhere for a few grand over and above your tax and N.I. that you've paid all these years.

[naomi24]

OG, fine if enough schools are built and running - but I'd hazard a guess they won't be so the question stands.