Do you think labour will actually implement 20% vat on school fees?

[labpit]

We have two in Year 7 and year 10 and I am not sure what we will do if this happens. It is a certainty do you think?

So a good education is only of benefit if that education comes from a certain type of school? So a state educated doctor is a benefit to society, but a privately educated one isn’t? I think we are possibly the only country in the world where people can possibly look upon a good education as a bad thing.

Wow - how patronising, and so very wrong!

🤔 they’ll know more than the IFS

@Trappedandunhappy

Economics by youtube.....

Never mind. Please continue on with your amazing understanding of economic behavior.

Lack of insight into behaviour is remarkable

This will affect me 😭
I have very mediocre children and we live in a vast and bleak wasteland of shit schools. They will fail miserably in state, just as I did.

Not sure what I’ll do tbh. Maybe move to Dubai. Maybe Only Fans? I have quite weird feet that may interest some people of that kind of persuasion. See what you’re doing here Labour!!!!

Privately educated students are over represented on medicine degrees. They keep state educated kids just as capable of being doctors out. Their parents buy their places hence the frothing from parents at the thought of their children having to compete from the state sector the same as everybody else.

I wish we had more state educated doctors, they will understand the realities of life better.

This works both ways though. You could equally say people with kids in state schools benefit from those who are educated privately, because education helps us all as a society.

Which is why most countries don't tax parents having their kids educated in some way other than the state system. It's a benefit to society for kids to have an education, however they get it.

The only school that matters as regards doctors is medical school. Going to a private prep school doesn’t make you a better doctor.

This thread is becoming increasingly shrill and ridiculous.

Private school fee inflation, willingly embraced by the schools and parents, priced teachers’ children (except if they work in the school), ordinary doctors’ and solicitors’ children etc out years ago, especially if they had more than one child. No one cared.

Now a one off increase, which seems fair, of around £5,000 (based on 2 children, 25k/annum fees, 10% increase) for generally wealthy people is being met by total disbelief, shock and anger.

We have had every trope on this thread:

we already pay into the state education system- no shit, taxes are all about redistribution.

The IFS is all wrong, schools surveying their parents are far more reliable-umm, ever hear of bias?!

We just won’t have bursaries- bursaries are what often give private schools the grades and leavers’ destinations which get new parents to apply.

We already pay lots of tax-Waaaah, that is what being generally overpaid entails. If you are in finance, as many are, you might wonder where all that wonderful mullah comes from; it wouldn’t be from effectively taxing the rest of the economy, would it?!

We will just leave the country- well bye bye, then, take your amazing ‘talent’ with you. Except you won’t. When 50% top rate tax came in, hardly anyone actually left.

And all the above over a fraction of your yearly holiday budget. That is true for 90% + of people posting on here.

The tax will come in. A few will be forced to leave, but fewer than most think. And Phoebe will still be booked on the netball trip to Jamaica next year….

https://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/news/state-school-pupils-do-better-at-university-cambridge-assessment-research-confirms/

@TempestTost that wasn't the point I was responding to though.

So where’s the advantage from private? Why do I care if people pay fees and taxes

I think it would be political suicide to put VAT on uni fees that’s all, and I think that every politician knows it so it wouldn’t happen.

I was simply making the point that VAT legislation that can separate the VAT liability of glacé cherries and normal cherries can differentiate between private schools and unis quite easily.

Some countries actually provide private schools with state funding, or give tax relief on fees, because they recognise the value of a good education. @TempestTost

You suggested there could be only one reason they would fork out for a survey. I suggested a potential alternative. Chin stroke away, it doesn't actually make you look more clever.

The behavioural economics here are a great deal more complex than you seem to think, and probably near-impossible to model because the motivations are so varied.

Plus it reduces the state burden

I don’t really understand why parents decide to send their kids private though when it is so much of a stretch that they cannot afford an extra 20%. Surely if your budget is going to be that tight you cannot afford it?

Oh gawd…

They are clearly trying to work out who might leave and when

I'd be amazed if they did, given that doubtless many Labour politicians AND voters these days send their own kids to private schools ...

The schools aren’t making profits. Charitable organisations aren't allowed to?

The point is many talented state educated kids with the same grades are denied places at the top unis because kids from private schools are unfairly represented. Private education in this country impacts social mobility hugely.

@DdraigGoch they certainly do - it’s called ‘surplus’ or ‘outturn’ or some other euphemism but it’s profit and goes back into the organisation.

The only difference is that there are no shareholders to distribute profits to via dividends.

Generally it doesn't go down well on here when men come on and tell women they are being shrill. It is often seen as a misogynistic term that is used to shut women up.

Re state school pupils doing better at uni, this is true if both get the same grades.

This is in some ways a positive for private schools, though. It implies that they are adding value, allowing average students to access good A level grades. When the same pupils have to attempt uni level work, they struggle. That is the reason why unis make lower offers to the state sector, especially challenging schools.

What private schools are really good at is optimising exam results. They are, ultimately, businesses and what the vast majority of clients (the parents) want is good grades, even though they sometimes won’t admit it.

Of course, heads will tell you that there is no tension between great grades and great education, but there often is. In science, for instance, you can discuss interpreting a complex practical or do fewer practicals and drill the perfect 5 mark question over and over again.

Ultimately a child has to fit a school and vice versa. Personally I think private is brilliant for the more vulnerable pupils who need support. I think struggling through the sometimes more chaotic state sector will serve the genuinely tough creative thinker better.