Would Labour voters be upset if joining the EU meant they could no longer tax children’s education?

[Blarneyspoco]

Taxing children’s education is banned as part of EU membership. If the U.K. rejoined the EU, would Labour supporters be upset that they can no longer levy the tax or would it be seen as a necessary compromise.

Oh god this again!

Op got a pasting in her other thread and has come back for more!

We could ban private education like some EU members have, would that suit you OP?

What percentage of private school parents currently is genuinely happy to be paying this VAT to pay for their privilege? Genuine question, because really they need to be happy, as a group to be doing it, otherwise more and more private schools will go bust with the ensuing effects on some local communities.

We have heard from @IdaGlossop who sent her DC for 2 years. But I don’t think she clarified whether she personally paid the VAT or whether that came after her DC’s time.

Amazing, when you think about it, that Labour hasn't already banned private education. After all, we have an extreme socialist government 😁

I think this is the problem with over simplified thinking.

Taxation, including VAT, is not ring fenced. This money was never going to go directly to paying for more teachers.

What the govt said was that a tax break for private schools was not justifiable in circumstances where state schools were able to pay for adequate staff etc. The tax break was therefore not justifiable.

But people took than and turn it it into “it’ll be ring fenced” in their heads.

’Leftist’ is not a word I use. Socialist, yes.

Nor do I see any ‘whining’, but an ad hominem attack is uncalled for, and the OP has been subject to several.

Happy to answer that question. She went in 2019-2021 so no VAT.

Again, you would have thought that the independent school council would have run a clear survey by now asking all the parents how they feel about this VAT.
Because if it is indeed VOLUNTARY now, which it is, its success depends on those willing to pay for it!

Well for a start, we're not even asking for any compensation for not taking up state education. Just not to have extra taken on top.

But the "childless person' thing isn't equivalent anyway.

You recieved your own education: so it's entirely reasonable that you contribute equally to education. Regardless of whether you go on to have 0 children or 4.

Each future tax payer gets one (optional) lot of state schooling and will contribute towards state education from their taxes once they start working.

How many siblings they have is completely irrelevant.

why? about 18% of A-level kids are in private schools. There would be mostly children of professionals. Why should it be 90% of state kids at Oxbridge, not 82% at best?

Labour manifesto 2024.

Labour will end the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools to invest in our state schools.

Yes it was for 6,500 state teachers. It was in Starmer / Reeves and Phillipson’s heads. Dud policies such as this one contributed to them being ousted.

They don’t have to looking at these posts. Enough prefer to kick the op than expect any improvement to state.

That’s so funny.

We have a barely left of centre, if at all left of centre, govt. That the Overton window has shifted so much that anyone sees this or Starmer’s govt as far left is really scary in fact.

Whilst somehow people are criticised for calling actual fascists like Farage “far right”.

The countries that do ban it are not far left either. Well I’ve used “ban” a bit loosely - it’s not strictly a ban in countries like Finland, but Finland is not far left. Finland hates communism more than most countries!!

@EasternStandard - it is pretty clear - Labour lied. They always wanted to close down as many private schools as possible. The rest was a sham.
So it is on the private school parents to pay up to keep their private schools going/get us back in the EU/kick Labour out with their voting.

I guess OP decided to leave private education and is in camp “revenge”. I do understand that perspective if the whole policy was based on lies. I feel the same about the Tories and Brexit.

I can understand why the op feels as she does. She’s basically carrying the hit for the whole sham so a few can feel happy she’s had to move her dc.

Nothing on actually improving state as per the thread very few care about that.

Whenever I hear people saying we have a socialist government in the UK, I laugh because I spent time in Eastern Europe during the early 1980s and experienced the dreadful toll of not having a market economy, little individual freedom, and the ever-present sense that you were under surveillance. People don't know they're born....

Typo

The hair shirt and self flagellation carries no weight with those living under this Labour government, I’m afraid.

Because lefties often just want to "punish" i.e. their politics of hate, spite and envy,

This narrative is getting boring. You sound very bitter.
I have Labour voting friends who earn well and have paid for their children's private education.

Please will you stop with the stereotyping of anyone who doesn't vote Tory or Reform.

But those examples rather undermine the point.

Private health insurance already attracts Insurance Premium Tax, and if you buy your child a car you pay VAT on the car. A house deposit is money towards purchasing an asset on which other taxes may also arise.
So “parents can buy their children advantages” plainly doesn’t mean those advantages are somehow exempt from taxation. The question is whether private education should be treated differently from other privately purchased goods and services simply because the state also provides an alternative.

OP you keep mentioning that there are fewer teachers now versus when the change was made. Assuming this is factually correct and relates to the number of state school teachers only, what are you doing to point this out to the government?

I agree it's poor that they haven't increased teacher numbers if that's what they said would happen.

However that doesn't affect my view on the tax change. Private education is an optional luxury and should be taxed accordingly. If you want to avoid tax, use the public education system that is available free of charge. For full disclosure I am considering private education myself and have no issues paying VAT on the fees.

The policy is clearly a typical lefty kick at the just about wealthy who ‘got above themselves’, their arch enemies after all. It’s nothing new in that sense, but what is new and will be far more damaging than the (undoubtedly short lived) policy itself is the targeted nature and vitriol aimed at children. When you go after people’s children like that, it really crosses the line and I suspect will be something of a Pandora’s box opening for British politics. It’s been quite disgusting and alarming, a new low for a British Government. It’s a whole new level of division, you simply do not mess with peoples kids like this unless you really want a country at each other’s throats. Mamma bear out.

"It's right that people with the most pay..."

This winds me up.

If you want those who have the most to pay more, look at income tax rates and thresholds. Adding VAT to private school fees does not achieve what you are saying it achieves!
Not every high earner has kids in a private school, and not everyone who chooses to send their kids to a private school is a high earner!
There are private schools available that are relatively affordable (costing less than the government spends per head on education). This policy increases those fees by 20%, making them less accessible than they were previously. Do you still think that's a matter of fairness?

Voluntary? Could you explain? Schools have to pay I. Whether they pass it on to agents is their choice.

The ISC is hardly going to run a survey asking whether parents are happy to pay increased fees because of VAT being imposed on private schools. Most would answer 'unhappy'. Would the government then say 'We can't have unhappy parents. Let's reverse the policy.'

Even if the questions were about understanding and fairness, the policy would remain unchanged and the government would be right to say 'If you don't like it, move to the state sector. '

This is pure hyperbole. Charging VAT on private school fees is not “going after children”, “messing with people’s kids” or some sinister new low in British politics. It is a tax policy affecting the purchase of a privately provided service. You can think it is bad policy, unfair, badly targeted or economically counterproductive without pretending the Government has launched a campaign of vitriol against children.

The “Pandora’s box”, “crosses the line”, “you simply do not mess with peoples kids” stuff is just melodrama replacing an argument.