To be completely shocked by this - Bridget can’t tell us the impact of the government’s VAT on Education?

[Sasskitty]

Bridget Phillipson dodges question on impact of private school tax raid

As parents and schools complain of chaos, Ms Phillipson refuses to spell out details of the assessment made by the department for education

Bridget Phillipson failed to spell out the full impact of the government’s private school VAT raid, dodging the question when asked about the possible implications for special education schools.

While she said the government has “looked at all of the potential impacts”, her answer failed to provide any real detail on the expected consequences.

It comes as parents and schools complain about the implications of the tax raid, which came into force on New Year’s Day and is expected to raise £1.5bn for the Treasury.

YABU - Bridget Phillipson has it all in hand. She just didn’t feel like answering the pesky question. The point is to piss rich people off. Leave Labour alone, they want nothing but erm oh I’m not sure.

YANBU - Phillipson clearly has no idea what the impact of VAT on Education will be. Nor does she really care as long as she’s seen to be punishing those horrible rich people. Or even better (it seems) the not really rich ones just trying to improve the education of their children as the available state schools were not suitable.

https://apple.news/AO7fcmrzuRaik4stLaPQxwA

(sorry paywall but there’s not much more in the article)

PS. I’ve removed the poll tally, no one needs to see real data. Do they?

Well that's what happens when your voter based tends to be younger and from the demographic who have had to mortgage their future for a degree because the last time Labour was in power they thought it would be a good idea to send 50% of school leavers to university.

Hopefully you are educated enough to know that education and intelligence aren't the same thing.

https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election

How Britons voted in 2024 by education level

Education remains a strong indicator of how someone voted, with Labour doing a lot better than the Conservatives amongst those who have a university degree (42% to 18%). By contrast, the Tories performed marginally better than Labour amongst those whose highest level of education attained is GCSEs or lower (31% to 28%).

It’s been at zero for… a very long time.

Clutching at a single quarter or two is meaningless. The broad trajectory since <drumroll> Brexit has been flat. And it will remain so as we as a country can offer nothing now apart from smoke and mirrors. and perhaps money laundering and de-reg from safe standards.

But this is derailing, imposing tax on previously charitable status private schools can, imo be a positive thing for this country.

Except it isn't a tax break. There is a legal definition of a tax break and this exemption from VAT on EDUCATION isn't it.
So you are happy to keep your own tax breaks, you just don't want anyone else having any so called 'tax break' that you don't have.

What’s the legal definition of a tax break?

Thank you for this sensible post. I completely agree with you. My children were educated at private schools and so was I. The difference in the parents wealth between my generation and my children is huge. I honestly don't think the education is top priority anymore. It really is more about what they can charge.

It's scandalous that they have opted out of the TPS. Another marker of them not caring about employing top quality teachers, just relying on their name and elitism to populate their schools.

VAT is often charged on luxuries. This was a tax break, I know it, you know it, everyone knows it.
I don’t like paying VAT, who does but the fact is many services - mechanics, builders, food sitting IN a cafe - charge VAT.
So these businesses aren’t any different.

and if you can’t afford it - don’t pay fees.

VAT isn't a luxury tax otherwise why is cavier exempt? Why are designer kids clothes exempt? Why are utility bills a lower VAT rating?
Education is zero rated as an agreed principle because Europe views education as a social benefit, irrespective of where, or how it is delivered.

Is the whole of Europe and most of the world wrong but Labour are right?

I've always wondered about the validity of this and suspect it's also heavily skewed by age - or in other words by the generation who've mortgaged their futures for the sake of an often pointless degree

In any case I wasn't really thinking of educational aspiration - more the kind which comes with real life experience

Fuck me, the caviar thing! 😅 The number of times I’ve seen the ‘but caviar doesn’t have VAT!’
Perhaps the explanation for that is that as it’s handed out for snack breaks at private schools it’s considered an essential?
Email your MP about caviar, I bet they have a cut and paste answer for that one.

PS the U.K. voted to leave Europe. I would imagine quite a few of the people using private schools, and having holiday homes in Europe, voted for Brexit! Doh. Still they got their country back…

How bigoted of you to come to the conclusion that quite a few people who send their kids to indy schools, also voted Brexit. I mean it is highly ignorant but also bigoted.
By the law of averages many people who don't send their kids to indy schools voted for Brexit but don't let your prejudice blind you.

YABVU

HTH

(A private school parent)

The data is there cut in several ways. More 29-49 year olds voted Labour than any other age group. Most of those people who are graduates will have relatively low debt, it’s only been in the last ten years after the increase to £9k a year that student debt has been so crippling.

Education isn’t a luxury but it could be argued private education is. I don’t see any increase in social benefit of a small proportion of wealthy kids being privately educated as opposed to state educated. It’s of a personal benefit to them as individuals but society doesn’t benefit.

im sure some people may try and argue well those kids not being in state schools benefits the state students. I don’t buy that. The majority of private students will stay in private schools. Even if a percentage don’t, the numbers are so small and they will be spread around the state schools so much as to have no impact. Other than potentially a positive one on schools with falling numbers.

All of that. But let’s give it a year or two and see. I genuinely don’t expect any downside for society/state schools etc.

People often vote Labour in their younger days. The age group/higher education is probably explained by the huge expansion by Blair of university numbers..up from 10% to 50% of school leavers (roughly). Although I suspect it doesn't mean a corresponding rise in intelligence given some of the degrees. This was also cited in the Remain figures as being relevant when it arguably it isn't a particularly interesting statistic.

I think you don’t want it to be interesting. It doesn’t really matter why the most highly educated in society vote for left leaning parties and policies. The fact is that they do.

Well yes, given the manifesto, VAT was expected. But he’s been teaching in this particular private school since he was assaulted in a state school (under the last Labour govt actually). So about 17 years at this school.

He won’t go back to a state secondary. They are crying out for teachers as it’s a bloody awful job. Assaulted, followed home and property damaged. No thank you. He’ll tutor the ones that want to learn, online.

Over half of school leavers go to uni now. It doesn't make them any cleverer or better educated than the population who are over 50 when only 10% of people went to university and when standards of education were arguably higher. In fact you could argue that older voters are better educated but simply took less time being so.

Additionally no vote can be taken for granted now. Many younger people will have had little/no memory of a true Labour government so didn't know what they were voting for in July. If what I think you are trying to say is right, if those highly educated people are as educated and clever as one would hope, at the next election a lot less of them will be voting Labour as they would be voting for a party that had wrecked their job prospects with for example the Employers NI increase. This is born out by polls saying that younger people are increasingly approving of Reform..well done Labour...

Easy to not see a downside when you aren’t the one impacted though. My sibling is facing a job loss.

This is so typical.

“Give us the proof”.
“OK, here’s a link to the proof”
”Oh but this, oh but that and another thing”

Young people are the least likely age group to vote for Reform, outside the two main parties they’re more likely to vote Green, particularly young women.

We haven't had an election since July obviously, and no turkey should be voting for Christmas. Let's see what happens at the next election when young people can't get jobs and realise their future has been taken away to fund traindrivers and THE BLACK HOLE OF DOOM! As you say, they aren't stupid.

Young people who can will seek out better opportunities and taxes annyway. After all who wants to hang around to take on the burden of increasingly old and ill. I don’t blame those on the other thread for getting out of that.

What's typical is a Labour supporter not saying what they mean but heavily implying that a degree somehow makes someone more intelligent or better informed.

No one has refuted the data, we're using critical thinking to explain why it probably doesn't mean what you think it does.

Do you agree that younger voters tend to lean left politically?
Do you agree that more people in that age group will now be "better educated" because we have encouraged large numbers of school leavers to go to university?
Do you think that a degree automatically makes someone more intelligent than someone who doesn't go to university?

What point are you trying to make? We already know that Labour have abandoned their working class voters and are now a party for the liberal elite.

Do you think the uneducated masses should just stfu and trust Labour to introduce policy to improves their lives or are they allowed an opinion?

Stats from the last election do not tell us a great deal. Apart from the over 65's the majority of all other age groups signalled an intention to vote Labour, people were sick of the Tories, they hadn't developed a live affair with Labour. No doubt a similar thing happened to the Tories in 2010.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1379439/uk-election-polls-by-age/

What sort of person trolls a SM page about a subject that they disagree with and then goes on another SM page to slag those people off?
You are slagging off parents who have genuine concerns about their children. Wtf has the world come to when parents attack other parents for being worried about, and taking a stand for, their own kids?! Especially on a bloody parenting site!
Your post says a lot about you as a person.