VAT on state school clubs?

[palmtreessunshine]

Removal of VAT exemption of private schools - yes I get it, the ideology that if you are rich enough to send your kids to private school, the fees should be subject to VAT. However, the change is affecting poor kids who go to state school, but go to an evening Theatre Club, or a Saturday Music School, or a Summer Holiday Arts school.

Can any of my VAT friends offer to provide technical input to help lobby, so that state school kids who go one night a week to Theatre Club don’t now have to have a 20% increase in the cost of it? Is there maybe a way to make only Full Time private school fees subject to VAT, and all extracurricular activities for state school pupils be without VAT? Otherwise many of our arts facilities will go bankrupt. And even if Winston Churchill did not say “then what are we fighting for?” in relation to arts funding cuts, well the misquote has a point, right?

Rachel Reeves and her husband have a combined income of £300k. Plus an additional rental income of £75k a year now they live (at the taxpayers expense) in Downing Street. They send their DC to state school. They can bloody well pay the VAT to Theatre Club.

I think vat works as its on goods and services rather than users.

That's why the sen workaround is that the LA can claim back the vat for ehcp pupils, not that that type of pupil doesn't have vat.

I don't personally agree with the VAT on education policy for anyone, but if it's to be applied then why would your case be different? VAT doesn't depend on the income or wealth of the person buying the goods or services. Not all state school pupils are poor and it would seem unfair to charge different amounts for an extra curricular activity based on whether a child was at state or private school.

The argument is that parents are buying an advantage by using private tuition so saying that if it takes place in the day it's a luxury that should be taxed but if it takes place outside normal school hours it should be tax free seems illogical.

It's fairly obvious that the idea is to make private schools unaffordable (even if it doesn't actually raise that much money). Apparently this is a popular policy. It will mean that some children can no longer attend private schools, either because their parents can no longer afford the fees or due to schools closing and the idea is that this will make education more fair, even if it means some job losses and bigger class sizes. Not for the most expensive schools or the richest parents who will be able to easily absorb the cost of course.

Music, drama etc. are all available as part of the state school curriculum and not everyone can afford the advantages of private lessons, which are optional. Those who can afford it will therefore be paying tax to help support the state provision. If this means that some people can no longer afford to pay or that some providers are put out of business then that's the policy working as intended.

Sorry but what have the personal financial circumstances of the Reeves family got to do with you and yours?

We’re all part of this society and we all pay our dues accordingly, based on ability.