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.

Are you talking about Finland? The country with one of the highest educational attainment scores in Europe?

OP, for the sake of your own mental health, I genuinely think you need to start viewing this from a different perspective.

The fact is you can no longer afford private education - that’s the crux of all your threads on this subject.

Inyour head you’ve attributed that to the application of VAT on the fees and that’s given you something to ‘blame’.

But the reality is it could have happened for any number of reasons - redundancy, death, divorce - then where would you have directed your wrath?

And, for the very vast majority of the population, private school fees have never been within their grasp so why should you be any different.

Makes the envy argument look even more silly.

Not at all. It's zealots arguing for benefits of this VAT who couldn't live with some children having presumable better education. I never thought about it until I saw the hatred against private schools here. So you reap what you sow.

And yes, I took an opportunity of state education. The best state education available. Just saying that this one policy cost state well over 200k in my case alone (cost of education my DC plus my lost taxes. And btw - my role moved abroad after I retired, so this tax is truly lost).

Has their kid got a detention in a State School by any chance?

As I said I know many schools do R&D into pedagogy and use this to help the local schools.

Like a dog with a bloody bone.
Won't stop till we all agree with her.

It must have been a comfort that state education was available in case you were struggling with the fees.

I have no hatred against private schools or parents who use it. I am fine with the VAT and couldn't care less if it goes when rejoining the EU.

I has never been a discussion in real life.

“Has their kid got a detention in a State School by any chance?”

Hehe, that is just mostly free childcare. Like DS school does it on a Friday after school, poor teachers but I reckon a lot of the parents welcome it!

“Are you talking about Finland? The country with one of the highest educational attainment scores in Europe?”

Finland’s scores have plummeted massively to the point that they had proper high up political meetings about it. The current fav is Estonia and believe it or not, English schools (both state and private) are actually doing really well on attainment at least (mental health they aren’t and the studies still don’t show that private school kids are happier than state school ones).

No, Poland, Hungry, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania

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

Maybe the OP could start a thread in the Brexit forum ?

It's hard to convey how much the topic of VAT on private education was not an issue during the Brexit debate (such as it was).

You will never get an answer to that question from them, but you will get called all the names under the sun for asking it.

Sorry but it was pretty obvious that VAT on private school fees was Labour’s way of punishing certain entitled Tories like Boris Johnson and their public school followers and funders in the first place. Never mind the kids with SEND caught in the cross fire and those types being absolutely fine and actually now getting all their DC into more elite academically selective schools whilst pricing more people out.

OP it’s clear you’re salty that you can’t afford it anymore.

Children’s education was not taxable at the time and I don’t think anybody seriously expected that to change.

Private Schools did not lose charitable status. The ones that are charities are still charities. Not all private schools are charities, some are run for profit. The ones that are not run for profit and have charitable status contine to enjoy all the benefits of charitable status except that they have to pay business rates on their premises but they can still accept charitable donations and claim gift aid etc. The VAT change just redefined education as a luxury product that is liable for tax, and that applies equally to the poshest schools where the pupils live in absolute luxury and also to schools like https://www.ysgolgymraegllundain.co.uk/ or https://www.abraracademy.com where the fees are similar to or lower than what a school gets per-pupil for government funding so it's not particularly "luxury" it's just that for whatever reason the parents find that the state offer doesn't meet their child's needs. Also to specialist places like https://elmhurstballetschool.org which certainly aren't cheap but the costs are not due to any aim of pampering. The VAT charge doesn't achieve its aims very well because the poshest and most luxury schools can reclaim most of the VAT that the parents pay because they can get a rebate from whatever they spend on yachting equipment, pony food, swimming pool servicing etc, whereas the shoestring-budget schools mainly spend what they have on staff costs so no rebates there.

Charity law and VAT law are completely different. If Oxfam or The Red Cross sells items in their shoos that are liable for VAT they have to charge that VAT to their customers the same as applies to similar items sold by non-charitable shops. The change only affected VAT law not Charity Law.

That writes nice. However it rather suggests that the ideological commitment to it wasn't really entrenched if the measure has to be binned to rejoin the EU.

I suspect the OP is even more mad now than when the measure was introduced, as it looks to be jettisoned without a care ....

@SerendipityJane - well it did show the rest of us who are neither Tory nor Labour the worst of both the Tory and Labour mindset.
Thankfully Burnham appears to be taking a more moderate middle of the road approach to things and will be taken the grown ups with them including all the anti Brexit Lib Dem ex Tory lot. So fingers crossed, happy days ahead.
However, I don’t blame any families with SEND kids or having to disappoint their kids as who wants to leave their friends and hate Labour forever more. Just like plenty of people absolutely hate the Tories for Brexit (more in number) and are willing to punish them for it, forever more.

"yes, you absolutely are rich if you have money to spend on private fees; people who say they aren’t wealthy, just hard working are not aware of the realities of UK life)."

A poster up thread has just linked to 2 schools that charge very low fees. I am aware of several others who joined forces for a court case when the VAT was first announced. I know for a fact there are parents with average and even below-average incomes who stretch everything else to afford these schools, because I am one of them. I am very much aware of the realities of UK life. I make different financial choices than many parents might but I am not richer than them.

Perhaps you didn't realise what a wide range of private school types and costs there are in the UK.

So, the Labour government lied, then, as to the rationale for introducing VAT on private school fees?

A reminder of their manifesto, and subsequent comms.
Objective: Designed to raise revenue—projected at over £1.5 billion annually—to fund state school improvements and recruit new teachers

In actual fact adding VAT gives more advantage to the rich because they can afford to pay it, or move to a catchment area with really good state schools, or pay for private tutoring to get into the best grammar schools.
People with less money who were stretching to afford a less expensive private school are less likely to have the funds to do any of those things.

Well that is like asking me if I would be upset about not being able to go to my favourite coffee shop because I had got my dream job in a more convenient location and a bigger salary.

This. OP’s “serious question” to everyone is “Would you give up something you quite like if it meant that you would get something you like 100x more?”

Children’s education isn’t taxed!

State schools provide free education when I last looked?.

If you’re talking about private businesses, then all businesses are subject to paying tax and VAT depending on their profits. Why should any businesses be exempt?

You are correct about state schools providing free at point of use education.

Everything else you wrote is incorrect, you can spend 30 seconds researching online if you wish to understand more.

Bloc’s rules forbid levying the tax on ‘the provision of children’s or young people’s education’

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2026/10/04/rejoining-eu-scupper-private-school-vat-raid-tories-burnham/