AIBU to reconsider a long friendship over support for education tax?

[CoconutRumcake]

A close friend of over 15 years last night unashamedly said she supported the children’s education tax. To put this in context, she is godmother to my ds and has seen first hand what damage this has done to children and families as well as her own sister losing her job when the school closed. She had maybe drank too much and has apologised over text this morning, but I really can’t shake the feeling that I don’t want to be around her.
AIBU -try and move past it
YANBU -it’s run it’s time

I agree. OP has just confirmed that her child's private school has closed which is exactly the same scenario as that posted by the OP of the previous thread.

That's not unreasonable of you as she was being nasty to you personally.

Again for anyone at the back. Tax or not, on private schools has NOTHING to do with charities.

https://www.tax.org.uk/tax-treatment-of-private-schools-an-explainer

Given that you can't string a coherent sentence together, I'd watch who you were calling an idiot.

As I said upthread. Finland bans private education. Finland has arguably the best education system in the world. Those two things are linked.

SEN kids that have ECHPs were exempt from the VAT changes. I genuinely sympathise with the “borderline SEN” cases but how else would the system have worked? If you want to charge VAT on school fees (and Labour were elected with this in their manifesto) how else could they have done it?

And what about the borderline SEN cases who simply would never have the money to go private? The idea behind doing this is to help schools where all children can go so, at least in theory, SEN children in the state sector will have a better time.

I’m getting the feeling she might of upset a few other mums last night.

Does she say “of” instead of “have” though? That’s pretty thick as well.

We had friends who disagreed with private education and then sent DS to one when local comp wasn’t good enough! The DH was the son of a miner and used to accuse me of being a champagne socialist. We just laughed! These people who say things before their dc need a different school are very annoying. Like the ones who don’t agree with private health and then use it when it’s part of their remuneration package! I’d just cool the relationship and see how it goes.

Private schools may always have paid VAT, but then so have most other large charities, other than the exemptions that apply to school. That's completely separate to the fact that the fees paid to them by parents was VAT exempt because of the school's charitable status. This has always been a tax that should have fallen to parents, so it might make you feel better to think of it as a tax discount that wealthy families have benefited for from generations, rather than a new tax.

There is very very little good private SEND. Not sure why, it's a logical area for profit (hint, VAT is paid by businesses). There is a definitely a gap in the market there.

Yes @Conkersdodge That was awful, horrible person good riddance. Sadly she / her bitter behaviour was symptomatic of the sheer glee with which many behaved at the time. We saw it on MN. Definitely made me reflect.

You aren't really paying twice. You are paying taxes for services provided by the state, some that you use and some that you don't. Childless people still pay taxes that are used to educate other people's children.

I'd be annoyed if someone knew that a policy had hurt me and my child, yet spoke to me (or knowing I would overhear) about supporting it. Yes, I would find that hurtful and annoying, and it would change how I felt about her. In vino veritas, so her apology would only go so far. She's allowed to have a different opinion, but she should know her audience a bit better.

I'd probably wait and see how I felt after some time had passed rather than ending the friendship abruptly, especially if she's been a good friend for years, but I would expect that this topic would not come up again between us if she wanted to remain friends.

I can’t quite believe you have humiliated someone so much that they felt they had to aplogise in a shared friendship WhatsApp group simply for having a different opinion to you. What are you going to do now? Remove her from the group? You sound like a nasty bully tbh and she’s probably better off without you.

I think when you've made up a scenario just to wind people up, obtuseness is a necessary ingredient

Nothing to do with charity or charitable status.

I agree - please do your friend a favour and stop hanging out with her. Her opinion is very sensible, and she can also have this opinion whilst being sympathetic to the impact the policy change may have had. Just because you are probably taxing private education (in the same way as most services get taxed) doesn't mean that you are happy when a school closes, or when someone loses their job.

I recently toured some private and state secondary schools - the private ones are very much a luxury in my opinion (much smaller classes, nicer facilities, fancy subjects like Mandarin, rowing machines, and all kinds of other stuff). If you want luxury, that's fine by me. But luxury shouldn't be tax free. Stuff that should be tax free should be stuff that is actually REQUIRED for basic needs (sanitary products, food etc) not luxuries.

This person is godmother to your child, so presumably a really close friend who you’ve known a long time. Obviously you can do what you like but I think it’s a bit mad to think about ending such a friendship over this.

clearly its to march the thread to its 40 pages long destination

with people arguing with each other about the morals of a two-tier education system - the upper rungs of which only the highly privileged will ever access, then OP claps themselves on the back with a job well-done

might just be a rage-bait / stealth-boast post rolled into one...

or complete bollocks

Please read this carefully OP

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c033dp0z1edo

It is "incredibly frustrating" to read someone spouting absolute bollocks about a subject they have clearly misunderstood.

Have you not even paused to wonder why literally no one else believes the same as you about this "education tax" ? Why everyone else is talking about the removal of VAT exemption causing the 20% rise in fees? This is the long overdue removal of a tax break for fee paying schools. It really couldn't be simpler.

For the love of God please educate yourself. The world can only be grateful you've not decided to home educate.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/finland-schools-down-in-education-rankings

That's a good point.

I suggest you read this carefully. The BBC article is poorly written, misleading, and biased.

https://www.tax.org.uk/tax-treatment-of-private-schools-an-explainer

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said "every single penny" will go to state schools - including funding the recruitment of 6,500 new teachers in England.

Ahh the good old days of June 2024.

Where are the new teachers Rachel? Rachel? RACHEL????????

Supporting taxing children’s education is definitely on the list of what fck is wrong with you, she’s put it down to the wine and has now apologised on the group chat…*

Well, I support the VAT on private school education, and there's nothing the fuck wrong with me - and I don't even drink wine, so it's not that.

This is the point. Children’s education is not a luxury, I would obviously avoid people who think otherwise

Of course children's education is not a luxury - all children have a right to a decent education. But private education is certainly a luxury, not a right, and it's a luxury that around 94% of children don't have the option of. So yes, as a luxury, I think it should be subject to VAT. If my opinion offends you, so be it, but you sound rather narrow minded if you are prepared to end a friendship over a difference in opinion, especially as it's an opinion that many others share.