To think that improving state schools needs people to pay an e.g. a state school tax?

@Another76543 a bit like all the posters here with opinions on state schools they don't use?

Stop going through charades of pretending to do something when all they do is find ways to line their cronies' pockets for starters.

I just think if you don't like it you don't have to pay it.

There are state schools available. If they are good enough for the other 93% of children they are good enough for yours.

I’m not sure how many times this has to be explained. VAT and charitable status are entirely separate . Half of private schools are not charities. Charitable status is not changing. The VAT position might be. It mystifies me how people can have strong opinions on something they clearly don’t understand.

How?

• Given that state school parents make up 93% of the UK's parents, that's rather a huge base to 'hit', particularly when years of underfunding have left state schools bereft of sufficient resources.

• It's not 6 weeks' notice, is it? The policy has been known about for months. Then they need to enact it. And even then, private schools are very unlikely to pass on the full cost to parents. They're businesses, so they will act like any other business that needs to find savings without hitting their customer base.

• 20% on top of "the £7k the state pays for their dc's education" is still only around half of that spent per pupil in private education - I.e. a small drop in the ocean towards redressing the balance. I strongly suspect your ability to buy advantage will remain intact.

• Very happy to pay additional taxes to improve education, and outcomes, for all rather than just the privileged 7%. Progressive taxation means those, like me, who can afford a little more will do so. The reality though is that many of the private school brigade do not like paying additional taxes that will benefit all. Because there's no such thing as society, is there?

Private schools aren’t charities, so shouldn’t be VAT exempt.

As for state schools, I think we’re all paying enough.

The VAT exemption has nothing to do with charitable status. Around half of schools are not charitable but do not have to charge VAT on fees because of the exemption entrenched in VAT legislation. The Labour Party have dropped plans to strip schools of charitable status.

Id be happy to pay more general income tax to increase school funding (as one of the 1%).

However, the VAT on private school fees is separate. Private schools had exemption from VAT for largely historical reasons, as charities (many of the famous schools like christs hospital etc were genuinely set up to educate poorer children hundreds of years ago, often not actually charging fees initially).

The vast majority of these schools no longer provide anything like enough social value to justify benefitting from the charitable exemption, so the suggestion is it no longer be given.

Public schools are a necessary thing, which society needs,

Do you mean “public” schools, or do you mean “state”
schools? They are very different things in the UK. There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding this policy and how the UK education system works.

I can’t understand the logic of saying that a family fully funding their children’s education with, say, household income of £100k should pay more tax through VAT, but those with income of, for example, £2m a year and using state education don’t have to pay a penny more.

You are missing the point.

Public schools are a necessary thing, which society needs, to produce an educated workforce.

The burden of paying for them is therefore shared, with those who can most afford it (ie the more wealthy, coincidentally often those who've benefitted heavily from the educated workforce and other economic advantages of the uk) paying a larger share.

Private schools are a completely separate thing. They are a luxury and are not required. It is reasonable that those who choose to use these do not benefit from tax exemptions, except where there is a clear social purpose (for example SEN schools).

I was responding to the idea you suggested in your OP....

Good to know you have apparently back tracked on it and realised it was a terrible idea though, well done

I'm not mixed up but you appear to be back tracking

You suggested a tax on parent in state schools

Then you said parent would couldn't afford the tax would be exempt

Then you claim you are looking out for those in the middle, except those are the ones penalised by your plan

No because the whole point of state education is that every child can benefit no matter what their parents income is.

No you didn't

Isn’t it reasonable therefore to ask anyone using state schools, to pay a bit of tax for that, in order to improve all said schools from their (often) current dire state?

So with your exemption on your new special tax for those with children in private school, and your newly proposed exemption for the poor you are proposing to make life easier for the ones in the middle by charging them VAT on the state school they will now have to send their children to? I'm sure there's logic there somewhere...

So now because some will be charged, others who can't afford it will have to be charged still.

Or, you know, we could use our current tax system which is based on what people earn, and it could be a universal tax which is based on people's incomes not on whether or not they currently have children in state school, because we all benefit from am educated population.