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?

If anyone is interested
look up your local school “charitable” trust on companies house
It makes very interesting reading.

Of course not. HTH

I don't think that over all there should be a rebate but I think that the fees that are paid to the school should be tax free.

I don't think anyone would really expect a rebate, it's a reflexive answer to potentially being asked to pay more when they're already not taking up the state school place they could claim?

Just thinking about this in our area, and where we used to live. There was a lot of demand for certain state schools and the price of housing in those areas goes up and up. Will other local families struggle to live in their area if this change did go through?

Private school families won't have chosen their properties for the catchment, so would they look to move into an already expensive area? We all know this goes on, just look at some of the London boundaries where they're a few metres from the gate.

I think that making private school fees subject to VAT will only widen the gap, and maybe strain resources on state schools. The people we know who attend private school do the same jobs as friends in state school. I suspect from their lifestyles that they budget differently to afford it, rather than dipping into deep pockets.

So I imagine pushing fees too high will take away an option for people in the middle (but not affect the ones 'at the top' like certain political figures who have been in the press lately).

Yes they should get a rebate.

Ditto if you have private healthcare.

Watching I've looked up one near me, what am I meant to be seeing that's 'interesting'?

So many things wrong with this I don’t know where to begin.

The fact is, those who believe they "don’t burden the state system" do precisely that by creaming off many of the better teacher staff who were trained by the state and paid by the state whilst gaining the knowledge, skills and experience that private schools then use as their unique selling point.

No.
I’ve been saving since ds was born so he can go if necessary, but that’s my choice.

He might not like it and I will have the option to move him back, for free.

If you get a rebate for private education then home elders should get a refund also.

@PinkLacy can I get a rebate too then because I don't have children so don't use the education system on them? And along those lines .. can I have tax back because I've never had child benefit payments from the government?

We no longer use public libraries, street lights, haven’t used the police in a long time, don’t use schools now, have little need of HS2 and cross rail and don’t have a flooding problem.
How much will our rebate be?

The people we know who attend private school do the same jobs as friends in state school. I suspect from their lifestyles that they budget differently to afford it, rather than dipping into deep pockets. - I really wonder how on earth you "budget" to find an extra 40-50 grand a year (this is what is needed to put two children through a standard private school) without dipping into deep pockets. The amount we are talking about is a way-above-average yearly salary.

It is totally dishonest to say that private schools are used by those "in the middle". "People in the middle" are only able to afford private schools when their mortgages are, for instance, paid off by wealthy parents or hefty inheritances, which is very far from the life of the majority.

From my experience, state schools could generally do OK without the strictly ring fenced facilities private schools offer to tick their boxes.....

“The people we know who attend private school do the same jobs as friends in state school.”
That, insofar as it it true, is because generally people’s friends are from broadly the same social class and income bracket as they are.

No, because you could say that for all kinds of things. I rarely see my gp - can I get that money back? If someone chooses not to have children, can they get money back for maternity care, education etc? If you don’t use the library, can you claim back on that too? Where does it end? It’s just not how tax works.

I really wonder how on earth you "budget" to find an extra 40-50 grand a year (this is what is needed to put two children through a standard private school) without dipping into deep pockets. The amount we are talking about is a way-above-average yearly salary

Different areas of country.
Different levels of fees.
Different number of children etc.

My mortgage payment and whatever it would cost per month on fees is less than a friend’s rent in a different area of the country. We are on a similar wage.

Seriously OP - don't ask silly goady questions if you don't want to read robust replies.

Of course they shouldn't get a tax rebate. Rhe service is there for them to use, just they are choosing nor ro use it. I also think they should pay VAT on the fees! It's a private purchase of a service and should be taxed in the same way as everything else.

YABU

No I don't think they should get a tax rebate

Most people realise we all need to pay tax to fund services, because thats how decent society works, and we might need them one day.

@PinkLacy I'm surprised you don't realise you actually use NHS services even if you have private healthcare. For eample, BUPA don't run any emergency departments.

itsaboo I don’t agree.

Firstly I don’t think private school teachers are better per se, or that their skill is the selling point. Simply that the same teacher doesn’t have the same pressures as in the state system. Greater resources spread between a smaller group that are far less likely to have the various needs you’d expect in a school with a wider range of pupils.

Secondly, ime there are teachers in the private system that would simply have either opted for the more exclusive state schools or left teaching all together if private schools didn’t exist.

I’m not denying that the perks might attract some good teachers away from a struggling school where they are under immense pressure to perform roles that really aren’t what they went into teaching for. But equally there are good teachers that remain in state schools because they feel they can do more good there.

And of course some private schools do employ teachers that simply wouldn’t get away with their ‘skills’ in the more pressured environment of state. Which balances out the teacher with a doctorate that leaves leafy high for private high for the perks. And tbh leafy high isn’t really the inequality issue in the state system.

No they shouldn't.
Otherwise people like me could demand a tax rebate because I have no children. I'll have a tax rebate while we're at it for any children's service.
I'll also have a tax rebate for any service I don't use, thank you very much.

No, they shouldn't get a tax rebate. It doesn't work like that. If people wish to pay for private schools then they have to decide whether they can afford to do this based on their take home pay after tax. It's as simple as that.

JacquesHammer - the average full-time salary in the UK is around 30,000. With two parents earning that and bringing in approximately 50,000 (more realistically probably 45,000) after tax, in what area of the country could they possibly be able to pay private school fees for two children or even just one child?

Sorry, but private schools are not for your average Jo. Saying otherwise is just a big fat lie that the upper classes tell to the rest to keep them in their place.

Average private school fees - £17,000 - www.theguardian.com/education/2018/apr/27/average-private-school-fees-rise-above-17000-a-year-for-first-time