VAT on school fees - High Court Challenge.

[EverythingAllatOnceAllTheTime]

Labour’s plan to impose VAT on private school fees in January faces a High Court legal challenge over claims it breaches human rights law.

Lawyers have written to HM Treasury arguing the policy discriminates against special needs children and has threatened court action if it is not dropped.

Showtime…

@Delphigirl

"I believe that the richest 1% arent taxed enough despite being one of the richest 1%. "

The richest 1% of income earners (£160k - 300,000 people) currently pay 30% of all income tax revenue and 48% of income earners currently pay zero income tax revenue.

What proportion of income tax revenue do you think the top 1% should be paying?

Yeah, sure, by lowering this for all. There is NOTHING in their policy saying about improvement of state education, 6500 new teachers (0.3 per school) is just a joke.

My point stands.
Disgruntled non SEN private parents are using SEN parents/pupils as a tool to get their way.
How many of them started threads or supported SEN parents before this VAT issue?

@Janedoe82

"Yes- as I believe having parents who would have been otherwise in private schools back in the state system as a positive move.
Plus on principle private school fees shouldn’t be VAT exempt."

So to be clear you would still support VAT on school fees even if it cost more to implement than it raised in tax revenue (ie net negative tax revenue)?

Please expand?

Not necessarily straight exemption, but a more lenient approach perhaps.

OK, fee paying.

I believe that the government gets more than enough or our money, but chooses to spend it on vanity projects and crap instead. So the idea of being taxed more for the greater good is laughable. The greater good doesn’t exist, or perhaps it does, but our money will never go towards it.

Over 11 billion on other countries climate goals, I don’t want to contribute to that. Millions on a study of sustainability in the Romany Gypsy lifestyle? Our money gets thrown away. No way I’d be happy to pay more.

As for this, no education should be taxed private or otherwise. It sets a precedent for other future taxes that will affect more of us. I hope Labour loose in January.

@Werweisswohin I mean public school which you wrongly refer to as private school as opposed to state schools. I attended a GPDST - Girls’ PUBLIC Day School Trust. Stop trying to correct someone who has had the experience.
Yes, I do believe public schools should be VAT free. Parents have already paid towards the state school system. Should they have a rebate?
VAT on public school fees is petty and cynical.

@Janedoe82

So to give an example:

Let's say for theoretical example (given that no one knows the actual figures until 4 or 5 years time) that the VAT policy which was intended to raise £1.3 billion extra tax revenue each year for state education, actually ended up costing say £650 million a year to implement.

Would you then support the existing state education budget being cut by £650 million to pay for this?

They're all fee paying luxury schools and should attract VAT.
I am also aware that these luxury schools refer to themselves as public, but they are the opposite of that in reality.

You do realise that the wealthiest are the most mobile, dont you? Capital will flee - it is already in flight.

This is not about them. It is about people who have foregone consumption elsewhere to be able to afford to enrol their children in independent schooling.

It's mostly privately educated people who waste the money. 😬

Again, patronising.
Out of interest, were you privately educated? 😬

That won’t be the case as the birth rate is falling. State schools can accommodate the extra children which will offset the extra money.
Also it is unlikely to cost anywhere near that figure to implement. HMRC have said they already have the measures in place to do it.

I actually feel very privileged my son is in a brilliant free school - he’s had a wonderful (free) education and has his sights on uni.

I don’t feel privileged my daughter has SEN needs. I don’t feel privileged she couldn’t cope with the government school system. I don’t feel privileged that she is academically capable of uni but might not be able to go due to her SEN needs and disabilities. Just this morning I have been taking to my husband about applying for PIP for her - something i knew she was eligible for but felt with our ‘privilege’ we did not need to do until the labour government introduced the VAT.

The ‘privilege’ you feel as private school parents of Sen kids you think we have - I bet many parents would give that up to have their Sen kids happy and healthy and not needing a private school education to cope.

Jesus

Nobody is saying SEN kids are privileged because they have SEN, but anyone who can access private education is privileged in that aspect.

I don’t think Ed Miliband went to a private school? Or Rachel Reeves? Or Yvette Cooper? or Starmer come to think of it?

Starmer’s father was a tool-maker - that much I do know.

Yup

It's funnier if you say "tool maker" to be fair!

Oh wow, I didn’t know that!

Only joking.

Well hopefully every parent will be wringing their hands and posting when the safety value agreement ends. Our government want to level up SEN by bringing all the sen kids out of indi sen schools, while not having enough state sen schools and actively pushing down EHCP numbers.

So switch my son back into nursery age. He goes to mainstream school non verbal at four with no ehcp and no extra funding. He is terrified as he can't communicate by ANY means. He runs off, he acts undesirable. The NT parents are spitting blood for millionaire kids to bring up the state standards are also delighted to do the same for those less fortunate like the sen kids and for their kids too model great behaviour, how to talk, use the loo, sit still etc and he parents will advocate for better. Like the private parents moving into state will do for their kids.

In reality the ask the head in droves to expel the sen kid ( I know this as it happens to my sen dd last term).

🤣 I'm sure everyone on here who wants VAT on the wealthy want a level field for sen too. For EVERY child. Same education for everyone? No private, no grammar..... no SEN provision? Let's not go THAT far...... careful what you wish for as its coming. It was in the white paper. The safety value ends. Shit hits the fan.

Naming a few who didn't go private doesn't really argue against the fact that huge numbers did. 🫣