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

It’s not my phrase, it’s the government’s

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-on-education-and-vocational-training-notice-70130

State boarding schools do not have the 20% increase, they are exempt. So it would only be those that choose expensive boarding schools, not those that need boarding for stability.

Think you will find that, unfortunately, the same applies to State Schools. In fact parents without SEN children are also paying for tutoring whether state or private.

Did you attend private school @CoconutRumcake ?

Would of
There was bursaries

I'd ask for a refund.

Nope. That phrase is not mentioned once on that page.

and a 20% tax will help that?

Same. I have a couple of friends in OPs position. Both of them have said that they agree with the tax. In fairness, they can afford it so that helps!

Peripatetic lessons are rarely included in fees and have absolutely nothing to do with the 20% increase. You can pay extra for instrument tuition in state schools or private schools (or even out of school).

The title of the notice is Education and vocational training value added tax, it’s a bit of mouthful so education tax is nice abbreviation.

Meant as a reply to @GelatinousDynamo

The difference between the bonds after the Truss mini-budget and now is that the Truss debacle effected the bond market for the UK, the current issue is affecting multiple countries

But I expect you know that and are just trying to push a false narrative

I can’t believe this poster is still going after writing the words “I think says a lot about someone’s character whether they want to tax children’s education or even their intelligence” 😂
Yes, you should drop this friend, in fact your whole coven of mum friends should, so she can be free of this narrow-minded, ill-founded, misplaced untruths that live inside your tiny little bubble, and get into the real world where nobody would feel able to show their faces after suggesting the removal of a VAT exemption is a “tax on children’s intelligence” 😂😂. I opened this thread thinking you were one of these parents who had previously managed to afford private education for their SEND child who had proven to be woefully underserved by an overstretched and under-resourced state education provision which simply couldn’t give her child what she/he needed. But no. Transpires you’re a common or garden little Englander who’s upset that one of her privileges has been removed, and is so unable to handle an opposing opinion that she wants to expunge it from her life. Still, an entertaining thread.

You've made parental choice 20% more expensive now. Why should something be taxed simply because it's bought? And not the lower 5% rate, a whopping 20% tax on educational choice.

But an inaccurate one

Are you privately educated?

Do what you want, but don’t whinge at the amount you have to pay for it when (a) more taxes into the UK economy the stronger it is and (b) you have a choice! I can buy a cheaper or more expensive car and wouldn’t bitch about the tax implications because it is my choice!

Perhaps we should reduce taxes on all others? And maybe education (a good thing can actually have an exempt).

They’re not in fees no, but they’re subject to the education tax. One of the teachers said when discussing the after school wrap around care , that even giving the children some colouring would fall under the tax. It is not just a tax on what people would call independent school fees, it’s a tax on all non government children’s education services.

YABU

Shes allowed a different opinion. Stop screaming oh it must be jealousy

But it's VAT - Value Added Tax. Not Education Tax.

There's VAT on chocolate biscuits but you don't call it the Chocolate Biscuit Tax. You call it VAT on chocolate biscuits.

Private tuition in the UK is exempt from VAT

Oh yes, definitely! I'm not singing the praises of state SEN. Far, far from it. But the idea that indies offer fab SEN is also mostly a myth.

make a six year old cry
No, I didn't do that.

So you agree it's VAT and not an Education tax as such - or if it's an Education tax the evasion rate is extremely high as about 93% don't pay it ! You need to take this up with your child's school not the government.

I certainly will whinge when a government introduces a harmful policy like this. Quite obviously taxing childrens education is insanely self defeating and backward. I won’t even stop whinging when it’s reversed, but I am going to remember the types of people who pushed this spiteful nonsense when I get my vote.

The government was never going to see the imposition of 20% VAT as a lever for expanding the independent school sector, was it?

With only 7% of children educated in the independent sector, its only just that in a democracy, governments should focus on the sector which educates 93% of children. Like many people, I really can't get exercised about a small number of wealthy parents having a bigger school fees bill each term. What exercises me far more is that in one postcode of my post-industrial northern city, 10% of young people go to university while In mine, 80% go.