Should Private School fee payers get a tax rebate

[Pamplemousecat]

Just following on from another thread. If a child isn’t in the state system should the parents still have to pay the proportion of tax that is taken for education?

And this is the problem with this day and age "it's all about me" culture. Obviously they shouldn't. They can use the state school system, they choose not too. All tax payers pay towards many things in society that they don't use or need.. but that's the point of the tax money.. to pay for things that Society needs. Education being one of them.

The point of tax is that wealthy people have usually benefitted (in terms of their wealth generation) from wider society. Its easier for a businesswoman to make profits if she has access to a safe, healthy well educated workforce, rely on transport, a government that is stable & a nation well defended, a judiciary that protects the rights of asset owners etc. Capitalism does not really reward anyone except the asset owners, so tax attempts to even out the cripplingly uneven results by getting the rich to pay back in.
If you can afford private school you are well off. Have a bit of human decency and contribute to society.

There's too many variables to make this sort of thing plausible. Should people with no children pay less tax etc. Etc.

No, it’s their choice to send their DC to private school.

Wow, OP. Your idea is cheeky fuckery at it's finest.

Of course they should

And private schools should not have charitable status

Not how the tax system works - we all pay in irrespective.
My grandmother had a friend who had never been to doctor or in hospital ever in her life. She was unmarried and never had children but was a diligent taxpayer. She was found dead in her 80s at home. She should have had a massive rebate for nhs services not used !

Only if private schools lose their charitable status and stop getting grants of taxpayers' money!

Seriously, good luck with calculating what proportion of your tax goes to educate the children who will grow up to provide services for you in every conceivable way...

No! Where would this end? I have private health insurance - should I get a rebate because I don't use the NHS. Not every tax payer uses every service taxes fund. .

Of course they should.

Taxation doesn't work like that. Otherwise it's just paying for services you use - not tax.

No. Schools fees should also incur VAT IMO. If I run a coffee shop I have to pay bloody tax, why shouldn't a million pound business like a school.

For those enjoying the idea of private schools losing charitable status you do realise that the state system will be inundated with former private pupils then unable to afford the fees. The system will be so badly burdened - huge classes , less resources etc. It won’t help the pupils that’s for sure.

My children attend private schools.

But I still benefit hugely from the existence of state schools.

For example, I am an employer - I need state schools to educate my workforce.

Yes they should still pay.
No they shouldn’t get a discount.

It is so depressing that you would even think to raise this issue. Imagine the same principle applied accross all areas of taxation. You're either a shit-stirrer, or a very nasty person, or both.

I have never been in hospital OP. Should I ask for a tax rebate for any monies that go to the NHS?

No. Do the 4% privately educated and those without children really feel their lives would be ok if the other 96% had no education at all? Our entire economy needs an educated work force and education is a human right for children worldwide. it’s barbaric to think otherwise.

No. Of course not.

My 2 are privately educated. Yes. And the charitable status that they benefit from should be seen as charity towards state schools. And whilst I'm at it there should be a fee for grammar schools for parents that can afford to privately educate.

Everyone benefits from the education of children. Let's look at it another way: suppose there wasn't a state education system. Suppose children didn't have to go to school. What impact would that have on society? Where would the next generation of doctors, academics, business people, lawyers, designers, writers come from? Who would look after children who didn't go to school? Who would be taken out of the workforce?

Pamplemousecat, maybe this will get some of the ex-private school parents voting for politicians who care about school funding then as opposed to voting for shits who decimated the state school system in the past ten years.

No. I was privately educated, don't have DC and would privately educate any future DC if feasible and I say a resounding no to this!

Yes they should pay. No they shouldn’t get a rebate!

We all pay tax to be used for all public services. It’s not a charge for services we actually used.

They shouldn't get a rebate. The education system benefits us all in lots of ways, not just by educating our DCs. Whether your DCs are at private school or not, the education system still educates our health care workers, our doctors, our teachers.
The point about losing charitable status is a different one. I don't think it will create an influx into state schools but if it does, then the system in lots of areas will struggle to cope.

Obviously not. That's not how tax works at all.

Pamplemousecat

I am quite sure if private schools lost their charitable status the schools would pick up most of the extra tax bill and that what isn’t paid would be passed on

I get tired of hearing how we really struggle to send our children private - no you don’t you may cut back and make choices but people don’t struggle to send their child private it’s a choice that very few can even consider let alone afford to do and they will soon find the extra to keep their children in the private system if they have to because they want that for their children

Mine included (his ex pays the fees)

The money his school brings in is staggering