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 didn’t agree with lifting the two child benefit cap - my friends with more than two children, funnily enough, all did. Managed not to fall out with em.

My other friend is very much a ‘any one welcome’ type when it comes to asylum seekers. I’m very much not. We have some fabulous debates but still, managed not to fall out with her.

There are so many things that my mates support that makes me look at them as though they have two heads and they more than likely look at me as though I’m a right wing nut job, I couldn’t give a fuck, but if we sacked off everyone that thought differently to us well then we’d probably have no mates left.

If you say so. Either way, if you can no longer afford it you'll just have to use the free schools that everyone else uses.

It hasn’t been removed though. It just costs the real price.

I agree. I went to a private school from 11, and I had no idea how privileged I was until well after I'd left and started mixing with people from state schools.

It was quite radicalising though. I was a scholarship kid from a council estate and it really opened my eyes to how much inequality there is in the UK.

Yes, it’s a great system.

What you’re missing is that those who ‘chose to ignore that system’ still pay for it. What I’m missing is how you think parents who send their children to independent schools make money out of the system? Surely they’re just paying twice

Voluntarily. Just like we all pay twice on all sorts of things that we choose to pay for.

Most people agree with it. You might end up with very few friends if you start dropping them for a difference of opinion.

LOL the real price.

And if the viability of the cost base of a private schools relies on an exemption based on a status they don't have, then they have a governance issue. And there are still plenty of services and costs that can be subject to VAT relief, as the link you provided shows. So there is no reason whatsoever that their cost base should have to increase by 20 percent to be passed onto fees.
I know you worried about my education status, but it's fine. A top fee paying school, actually. With charitable status too, which was being threatened by political pressure in the 1970s, so it's not a new threat to the private sector. We never did anything charitable to justify the status.

State schools are like that mate: lovely little non- profits that only exist to educate children.
Private schools are not charities and so now they have to pay tax.
The lack of decent provision in state schools that drove some people to private schools (almost bankrupting themselves) is a sad indictment of the mess school budgets are in since the 2010s.
The lovely private school near me is suffering - they responded by upping the fees and cutting all the bursary places. Nice place.

What has non essential item got to do with VAT. Is caviar essential? No VAT on that.

Oh god, there was an almost identical thread not too long ago, was it you too? That poster also considered cutting someone out for their views and opinions. It’s frankly quite ridiculous.

OP from your updates, I don’t think you understand what has actually happened.

And you seem wide eyed at your friends views, but she’s in the majority generally in agreeing with this. Or if not the majority, it’s fairly even.

Removing this exemption was not an unpopular policy.

Absolutely this. I was also a scholarship girl at a private school, bullied for not being posh enough. No ponies, swimming pools and skiing for me! The difference was stark.

*might have…

I agree that education is indeed important 😉

In a nutshell. OP is pissed off because she just about managed to afford to send her kids to private school, and now she can't so she has to send them back in with the riff-raff to free education. Basically, you were out of your depth in sending your kids private and the addition of VAT tipped you over the edge. So basically what you want is private education with a 20% discount because that's what you can afford.

Most people are disinterested as they think it doesn’t affect their lives or think it’s a tax on private schools.

Well I’m clearly talking about the schools making the money. If they choose to pass the additional cost through in its fees to the parents then, yes I guess the parent pays.

There is a very good system in place for children to access school for free though so if you can’t afford private school fees, then use the alternative. The prices would surely have risen anyway with all the cost of living etc.

What I don’t get is why parents like yourself feel private school is the be all and end all?

Removal of the tax exemption on private school fees is not even in the top ten reasons private schools are closing! Cost of living, rent, rising energy costs, changing prevailing attitudes and interest, dwindling birth rate, stagnation in professional salaries amongst other things are all affecting closures way more.

Besides, if you looked up the statistics, around 75 mainstream private schools a year were closing in this country prior to introduction of Labour’s policy. They are now closing at a rate of around 71 a year. So basically no change in rate of closure of mainstream private schools. Furthermore, around 120+ SEND private schools have opened in the last 18 months.

So there is no evidence AT ALL that removing the 20% tax exemption on private school fees have been anywhere near a major contributor (if at all) to private schools closing.

I really wish this was the extent of my worries in life. 🫠

Unless the friend is a shrieking leftie of course 😆

Imagine having to apologise for having an opinion.

Any tax that isn’t paid by the majority is invariably popular. People love taxes others have to pay that they themselves don’t.

What if you have no children, can you get a refund from the education budget.
Universal taxation.
But you know this.

And that's their choice.

The very purpose of VAT is to tax luxury products. The luxury definition can be dubious at times e.g. sanitary products until recently, but there is zero ambiguity with regards to private education. It is a luxury.