To be a private school parent who doesn't mind the VAT?

[PrincessOfPreschool]

I just wanted to write this to show the other side. Not all private school parents are moaning and I think it's the ones who understand the spectrum of society and their privilege within it, who aren't the ones moaning.

Writing on behalf of my friend who is not on MN but is sick and tired of all the school WhatsApps going round bemoaning VAT. She thinks it's fair, she's happy to pay it. She's aware of her privilege.

She has one son in state school (with SEN) and one in private school. So she knows both systems. She's grateful for the privilege of being able to send one child privately. Most of her close friends (her children went to state primary) do not have children in private school. She's sensitive to her privilege.

She is firmly in the real world. She works for the NHS and she's a bit shocked at the lack of awareness of privilege that all this moaning is showing. She's not at all wealthy but they have enough for the VAT because they don't spend much on other stuff.

These people do exist!

But why do you assume that it’s as simple as getting to punish some people who you perceive as wealthier, and everything just stays the same for you? There are unintended consequences to every economic action, and these are often set at the margin.

Meanwhile the revenue raised by the policy looks likely to be minimal, and the actual rich and the most exclusive independent schools just carry on as before. But forcing a few kids whose parents or schools can’t absorb the VAT costs into the state sector does - what exactly? You might just as well find that the unintended effect on you cancels out what you wanted to happen, i.e. the net effect on state pupils is slightly worse than any potential benefits.

Just as happened with the bedroom tax under the Tories. Does the fact that it probably cost the taxpayer more than it raised mean the voters who voted for it weren’t satisfied with the idea that they were punishing someone, even if they actually paid more in tax to fix the extra problems it created?

Nobody is punishing anyone. Its a choice you choose to make. Or not.

Private education is a luxury. As is the case with a wide variety of luxuries it will now attract VAT. Really it should have long before now.

I felt this way about the pasty tax, I often posted about my liberal views in understanding my privilege in being able to afford the 40p extra for a cheese and onion pasty. When it comes to disrupting children's educations, closing down schools and families pulling together an £3 to £15k a year then I give it a bit more thought.