VAT on school fees (you have to read this!)

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Government’s private schools VAT raid ‘could cost taxpayer £1.8bn’

Parents who are forced out of sector are likely to work less or even quit jobs, according to think tank research.

Adam Smith Institute.

Given the absolutely shit state of state schools they might find themselves deciding to work extra hours to afford the increase in fees instead.

I think you should work harder. That's what Tories say when people are in benefits isn't it?

Except I'm not a Tory

😆 great comeback.

Do you really think anyone is buying this nonsense or being persuaded by it?

😂

Did it several times - going from part time to full time, taking on more responsibility, doing overtime, took a second job. It's what people do when your rent, council tax, travel, gas, electric, prescriptions and food bills all increase.

And all of those have risen for us too! We don't live in a bubble whereby CoL didn't impact us

The Adam Smith Institute may be a respected institution, but it is not an impartial one. They are openly and famously pro free market - the hint is in the name ;) - so it's not surprising that this has come from them. They are also ranked as one of the UK's least transparent think tanks, meaning that we don't know exactly who is funding this research and with what motivations:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/think-tanks-transparency-funding-who-funds-you/

FWIW I actually tend to agree with ASI on many issues, and think they produce good research. I'm not poo-pooing it, just saying it needs to be understood in context rather than taken at face value.

Of course it makes sense. You’re just pretending to be very dense and not understanding

I agree.

If you'd asked me what the Adam Smith Institute thought of VAT on school fees, I'd have been pretty confident in my guess that they were anti.

Thats completely fair, but it does present an argument opposed to Labours assumptions.

Incidentally, there is at least one other study saying similar. I think I have it somewhere.

My DC will be moving to state for secondary. I currently work frontline in NHS in a senior specialist role but state school is further from home and their school day is a lot shorter so I will be leaving my job to do school run (rural school and no bus available) and ferry DC to extra curricular activities the state school doesn’t offer.

I believe we should all have access to an education that enables us to critically evaluate different sources. The Adam Smith institute is a libertarian think tank that supported Liz Truss’s disastrous economic policy:
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/ia0dqufzupur3dwg2vmvqkn2c5gbio

https://www.adamsmith.org/news/messaging-messaging-messaging-the-asi-responds-to-liz-truss-party-conference-speech

If she hadn’t crashed the economy we wouldn’t need tax raises at all.

Granted, the Labour Party may have brought this policy in anyway - it’s been in their manifesto since 2017. I am really shocked that neither schools nor parents seem to have made plans for this entirely predictable thing to happen.

If you can’t beat em than join em

I think the education and future life of your DD will be better for all these extra-curriculars she'll be able to do, and the fact she'll be educated alongside a mixture of people rather than just people from the same background as her. Not a gotcha. Not a trick. I think it's better for everyone.

Not in my case. I'll keep my 3 day a week post but have completely scaled back my private practice work, which is self employed. No point when one has left private school, one will in two years, and then only one left. I'd rather have two days a week to spend as I wish rather than slogging my guts out paying the fees!

Sounds great! What are you complaining about, again?

So you think she currently lives in a bubble not interacting with anyone other than those who go to her school?
She currently does all the extra curriculars in school time ie 8.30am - 5pm which allows me time to work.

Yeah because all of these parents are so special that if they don't do a job it couldn't possibly be done by someone else. Other people will fill the spaces of those who retire early.

Most of my mum friends with kids in state schools have only ever worked part time since having kids even though those kids are now teenagers. I work full time purely to pay DC2’s school fees. When I stop paying fees, I will work less. I don’t know why that’s such a difficult concept to understand. This will mean that I pay a lot less tax. I can’t wait.

So if there are lots of lower paid jobs becoming available that might reduce the unemployment rate. I don't think the government will care too much who does the job. Do make sure you factor in parental contribution to university fees in a few years. It can be challenging getting a job with a career break.

Alternatively paying more into a pension is an excellent idea for you and the government as it will mean you are less likely to need benefits when older and might still be contributing tax.

It sounds like the change is giving you a chance to re-evaluate and decide what is important for you. I know my dc have benefited from their state education and hopefully yours will too

@Dibblydoodahdah "This will mean that I pay a lot less tax. I can’t wait."

Good- enjoy yourself! Someone else will take up your baton.

Just a shame we are in NE England either lowest GCSE achievements in the country. Hence why we chose indy in the first place.

My local state primary school is 99% white. My DC’s private school is incredibly diverse with regards to race and religion and there are DC with backgrounds from
over 50 countries. Given that I witnessed discgraceful racist comments from the white state school children he plays sport outside school with, the argument that only state school children mix with people from a variety of backgrounds wears very thin with me.

You mean like teaching where they can easily fill the vacant roles?!!!

We have skills shortage in many sectors and not enough people paying tax. Jesus, even Rachel Reeves herself has stressed the importance of getting people back into the workplace including those highly skilled 50 somethings who have retired early.