Is Bridget Phillipson's tweet accurate?

@SinkingVoter and @Another76543 - yes, you are both correct - I have not explained myself well. What I was trying to put into my own words was this extract from gov.uk:
“Does this mean private school fees will go up by 20%?
We don’t expect that raising VAT will cause private school fees to go up by 20%.
This is because private schools, like other businesses, don’t have to reflect the VAT increase in the amount fee payers are charged.
We expect that private schools will try to minimise any fee increases.”

I think you might be muddled. There is a difference between input and output VAT.

Input VAT. This is the VAT which schools currently pay on any goods and service they buy in, which is subject to VAT. They cannot, at the moment, reclaim that VAT, unlike state schools. Private schools are already paying VAT.

Output VAT. This is tax paid for by the consumer, ie the parents. The schools will have to charge that VAT on their invoices, and will have to account for it to HMRC. The schools will have no option but to charge a full 20% on their base fees.

The only thing a private school can do is to adjust the base fee on which the 20% is charged. Once they are VAT registered, they will be able to reclaim the input VAT, possibly enabling them to reduce their base fee.

Adding VAT onto education is wrong, whatever your motivation is. Nurseries and universities next?

She smirks every time she discusses the policy. It’s easy to see what her motivation is.

No that’s not right. The end consumer pays the VAT, in this case the parents. The provider of the service, here the school, collects it and passes it to the government. Private schools have always paid VAT, and unlike state schools they haven’t been able to reclaim it. Now they will be able to offset the VAT they pay in delivering the education so in fact the schools will be paying less VAT when this comes in (though for most schools little of their expenditure is subject to VAT).

I am not sure she actually understands her own policy. Certainly I have never heard her explain it accurately.

I don’t think she understands her own policy to be honest. She posted yesterday “Today, the Conservatives tried to use Parliamentary time to protect private schools' tax breaks.”. She seems to think it’s the schools which will shoulder the tax burden. I’m not sure she realises that it’s parents who have to pay the VAT, not the schools. If she does realise that, perhaps she thinks that schools should mitigate the rise by cutting costs and reducing fees. She’s said she doesn’t want them to reduce bursaries. Perhaps she wants them to reduce their facilities, but I’m confused there as well, because she has said how important hockey is to her, and she plays on private school pitches. Where will she play if those pitches don’t exist? They must be using private school pitches for a reason. She obviously recognises the benefit of the community sharing the private school facilities so surely she can’t be suggesting they get rid of those facilities

It’s just a spiteful, vindictive, shit stirring comment.

You can even hear the tone leap off the page.

Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools.

• well, my DCs private schools didn’t have pools. There was a private school in our area that had a pool, and they let every school in the town have lessons there, let private lessons be held there every night in the community, and let our excellent town swimming club train there. The school closed due to dwindling no.s, the local council decided against buying it to make into a much needed state school, and now there’s no pool for kids to swim in.

Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches.

Again, never seen an Astro pitch. We’ve got a field they play in, and let the community use at night and at the weekends, but this may be charged now as private school parents shouldn’t be subbing them now.

Also, I think you’ll find private schools use emails and not letter headed paper.

But she knows all this, she just whipping up a class war.

She was back on Twitter making a similarly inane comment last night. I think she needs to step away from the subsidised House of Commons bar. Whatever your view on the policy, late night, social media rants isn’t a good look.

Yes I don't understand why she felt the need to tweet that. They are adding the VAT, why does she need to be vindictive?

I had 2 in private, one has just finished, the other one is finishing this year and moving next year if the law is not stopped by the challenges.

For me it’s not the money, it’s the principle. Labour could’ve just changed the law and be done with it, instead they are whipping up hatred towards Ind children.

If the people in charge are quite happy to be spiteful and petty, it’ll have a knock on effect. In no other category would politicians be able to freely shovel such spite on a group.

They are despicable.

I’d have paid the money if it had been done respectfully but now I’ll be damned if I have to give Labour a penny more of our earnings. In fact, the day I find I’ve no longer got £1600 a month coming out of my account, and I know that Labour are paying over £6.5k for my school place x 2 years, I’m going to have a huge belly laugh.

And in there very next paragraph, the bigger consequence - staff redundancies.

I voted for them, I understand public services need more funding, but their rhetoric on this has been rotten.

Yes - this - inews.co.uk/news/private-schools-without-stationery-pools-vat-3301756?srsltid=AfmBOorGUo62bn0LSd5uKakkMKs-f5A6n2snODOzjddXCXVtxs7vwtHC

Was there? Seems a bit tone deaf of them. Even so, stupid tweet. Was she pissed?

I don't have kids at private school but I thought that tweet was weird.

Crowing and nasty - talking about 'our' children' as if privately educated kids weren't 'our children'

Wasn't there a private school who said they would have to ditch their embossed stationery because of this, ie number drop
I assume?

It's a wind up - I can't think of another time taxes have been raised on a group at the same time as they've been vilified by the party implementing it.

Lots of schools, the majority of their fees go to staff costs and bursaries so one big effect will be teacher job losses.

But yeah, astroturfs, and embossed paper - sounds so much better than unemployed music teachers.

I guess she's trying to say that for some reason the 20% VAT will pay for mental health support in state schools instead of AstroTurf in private schools? Seems silly as private schools will still be able to afford 'embossed stationery' (?) and AstroTurf.

I mean, it makes it sound as though her department in government will be able to influence what independents do, which is wrong.

Or it's just done to wind people up who literally think it's either or?

Another Labour hypocrite
What a surprise

The tweet is perfectly clear to those who aren't trying to deliberately misunderstand it.

Her tweet makes no sense to me. A private school is still going to spend their funds on what they want, be that support pods or astroturf pitches. Charging VAT isn’t changing that at all. It’s just raising a tiny amount of tax.

Do people genuinely think that it’s either or?

increased per pupil spend is the attraction for most parents.

Well yes, as it’s literally funded by those parents.

Our school is passing almost the whole amount on, but tbh I’d rather that, than have the school experience downgraded which the cynic in me thinks it’s really what Labour is hoping for

We’ll make other cuts to find the money to keep out DC in there more than ever, then have them moving to state school under her.

Goes without saying I understand many won’t be able to.