Is Bridget Phillipson's tweet accurate?

[Seriouslyy]

VAT debate aside - can someone please explain to me why Bridget Phillipson has linked more teachers to embossed stationary or more mental health support to pools?

My first thought was its just propaganda, but surely the Minister for Education would post something that is accurate so I am wondering what I have misunderstood?

I thought private school parents themselves are paying the VAT rather than the private schools? Bridget's tweet seems to be suggesting private school parents are paying for pools and stationary but now instead will be paying for teachers and mental health support? I'm very confused.

Bridget Phillipson's twitter post
"Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery.
Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools.
Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches."

Education Secretary’s private schools tweet ‘propagates class war’, says Tory MP | Evening Standard

Yes well when your small wage increases a bit and then a bit more and Labour take more and more of it and give it to Ed Milliband to build dams(!!!!!) then you might find yourself less keen. There is a facility with HMRC by the way to pay more tax. I am sure it is overrun with socialists keen to donate to the state.

@Nordione1 I am keen, actually. I will look into the direct debit and set it up proportionately to my income.

It's a shame the richest in society expect those of us on minimum wage to pick up their slack though

So as a taxpayer you would be happy paying more in order to enable that to happen? Most LEAs are broke so unless the government give them more money they can't afford to do that. Even taking out a "surplus" the fess are still way more than £7K that government currently funds. I mean if you're going down that route then why wouldn't the government just increase funding per pupil in state school to 12K? That should do it nicely.
The reason? Joe Public don't want to pay more tax to make that happen so it wouldn't be a vote winner. They would rather pay less tax and have poorer public services.

@twistyizzy again. Yes. If it improves our public services I am happy to pay more tax.

It is shocking that 60% of working age adults pay no tax so don't contribute to the services they use. That simply isn't sustainable economically especially if you want improvements to state services.
40% of working age adults pay to support 100% of population

They then spend more money (and therefore pay VAT), or they save it and pay tax on the interest. Win win.

I think your maths has gone awry. Let’s assume a parent spends £20k on school fees. That’s £4K in VAT. They then switch to state, and put £20k into savings instead. Interest on those savings is around £1k at a rate of 5%. Let’s assume they don’t put it in an ISA and therefore pay no tax. The most any taxpayer will pay on that interest is £450. So that’s £3,550 less than the VAT which would have been payable. How is that a win win? Plus it’s now costing the tax payer £8k to educate their child. It’s precisely why the IFS assumptions are wrong. Because of a lack of understanding of simple maths.

You’re also assuming that any money spent will be on items subject to VAT. It won’t necessarily. Foreign holidays are subject to no VAT.

It already is. It’s not limited to a single LEA.

Then do. I'm very comfortable with the amount of tax we pay because in addition to paying it I don't ask the state to pay for educating my child or looking after our health. We pay extra to pay for ourselves. That isn't good enough though is it? We should be penalised for taking responsibility for looking after ourselves and not relying on the state.
Socialists want everyone relying on the state and the state can then decide what you can/can't have. Everyone is equal = everyone has fuck all and the state has everything + makes every decision about people's lives ie where and how they live/work/go to school/shop etc.

Most people pay their way with their tax. You currently aren't making much of a contribution to society and that's fine. But I think always good to appreciate the people who are making the largest contribution (ie the richest in society). Have a look at the statistics of who pays the most tax.

Remember, according to socialists, your money is not your own anyway. It belongs to the state and they decide how much of it you can keep and then try and control what and who you can spend that money on. Not very inspiring.

By contrast conservatives believe that the money you earn is your own and they just decide how much to take in tax and the rest is yours.

It's a shame the richest in society expect those of us on minimum wage to pick up their slack though

Let’s not pretend that the richest don’t already pay a huge amount.

“It is important to remember that the top 5% of taxpayers are projected to pay nearly half of all income tax in 2023-24; and the top 1% as much as 28%”

hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2023-11-14/debates/AA59871F-4E6F-420F-B106-98026F0F29B9/WealthTax#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20to%20remember,%25%20as%20much%20as%2028%25.

Do you actually have any knowledge of the education sector and the role of indy schools or are you just parroting Labour?

If you're earning minimum wage then you are a net financial drain on the country by a considerable margin.

You're not picking up slack, you ARE the slack.

its staggering that people still need to be told this

Mmmm you are saying "Education is not a business. It should not be for profit."....but Labour wants to treat private schools as businesses and then they are for profit? Labour can't have it both ways - morally or legally as directors of businesses have a duty to make profits for shareholders.

I am sorry but this is a very strange comment - if you are on min wage you are paying the least amount of tax for all earners? You are not picking up the slack for anyone, and nor should you.......but how on earth have you come to the conclusion you are picking up the slack for the highest tax payers in the country?

Should add even those pensioners paying tax are having to help out adult offspring too.

You're right 40% supporting 60% is insane.

Many private schools are businesses, e.g, Cognita, and do not have charitable status. Many care homes are run by businesses as well, some are charities but far from all.

Over half of indy schools are charities and the majority are not for profit. However Labour are now turning them into businesses with VAT. They want it all ways!

itwasnevermine · Today 10:51
I am keen, actually. I will look into the direct debit and set it up proportionately to my income.

That’s excellent that you want to pay more tax voluntarily and you can even specify where you would like to see that money spent - so you can ask for it to go towards state education if you so wish.
As a matter of interest, how much more voluntary tax are you intending to pay?

👏

All this rubbish about causing real pain for families… you’re spending thousands a year that the vast majority of the country could never find. Have you spent so long in your echo chamber that you really don’t realise how entitled you sound 🤦‍♀️

The worst bit about this (other than the snide reference to embossed paper - which i haven't seen anyone use since the mid 00s) is the divisive use of the phrases "our schools, our children, our students". She clearly doesn't see herself as representing or caring about children in private schools- they are very much seen as the enemy.

How odd.

Both the independent schools I have recently visited would sign him in, issue a visitor’s badge/lanyard and make sure someone with him until the job was done. He’d then return the badge and be accompanied off the premises.

I was going to say something like this. Children in private schools don’t live in another country - the UK government is their government too.

I’ve been pondering why this tweet annoyed me so much. I used to have a year 5 and 6 teacher who was quite a hard personality (but was a terrific teacher). She used to talk about how it was as important to be a “good winner” as a gracious loser. The Labour Party won the election and have put VAT on fees. This sort of tweet makes them a bad winner.

Yes, if its fine to charge VAT on independent schools because, you know, businesses, then is fine to charge VAT on nursery and university fees.

I have pointed this out to our MP. Her job is to represent ALL children. It’s clear that she isn’t. She despises 7% of children.