Nope to labour

[Mrsdeehoang]

I was considering voting for Labour, but their manifesto proposal to change the VAT on private education has made me reconsider. I'm not financially well-off, just about managing, and I took on two jobs to afford the fees for my son’s private grammar school. Despite our efforts, he couldn’t get a place in any of the five local state schools due to oversubscription, and our appeal was unsuccessful. We were instead assigned a school outside our area with a poor Ofsted report. Faced with this choice, I opted to work harder to provide him with a better education privately. The proposed VAT changes would make it even harder for families like mine to manage.

For me, Labour doesn’t seem to understand that not everyone who sends their children to private school is wealthy. I don’t like the Tories either, but I would rather vote for them than for Labour.

They’re not losing charitable status though.

The use of the term "culture wars" makes me want to say yawn.

Womens most basic fucking human rights being seen as a "culture war" tells us everything about that person who says it.

Womens most basic fucking human rights being seen as a "culture war" tells us everything about that person who says it.?.
So does those who refuse to see or acknowledge that womens rights and the far right are interwined, and that it is a culture war with the exact same argument "won't somebody think of the women and children" when it comes to turning back boats or flying people to Rwanda.
It's like there's a far right textbook.

YABU in particular for this comment

I opted to work harder to provide him with a better education privately.

and why we need yet another thread on this issue that will affect only a tiny proportion of the population I don’t know.

Rubbish.

Are you actually saying feminism and womens rights is a "far right" thing?

Really? When has that ever been the case? Because I must have missed that, since the overwhelming majority of feminists I know are left wing. Are you admitting the left have outsourced womens rights to the right?

So does those who refuse to see or acknowledge that womens rights and the far right are interwined

You what now? Women’s rights are right wing?

Saying the quiet part out loud, are we?

Are you actually saying feminism and womens rights is a "far right" thing?

No.

Did you not do maths at school or are you blissfully unaware of policy and manifesto?

please explain how under Labour any of us will have a lot more money.

It's really very simple. Private schools are not charities.

I’d also rather see a Tory/ coalition government rather than labour

It's an extra £216 a month. £2600 a year
A lot of people have found that money to pay extra fuel and mortgages for two years under the tories. You can also save money on your holidays by not paying as much going in longer private school holidays.

So I've really got no sympathy.
They aren't charities. State schools don't have those príveleges. Why should private.

It's up to you who you vote for, and how you want the country to be governed. I would remind you that there are around 615,000 children being privately educated in the UK right now and over a million children living in destitution (i.e. without enough money to meet their basic needs of being warm, dry, clean and fed). If you think VAT on school fees the issue that matters most to you, then you should probably vote Conservative.

Half of private schools are not charities. VAT has nothing to do with charitable status though.

'Women's rights and the far right are intertwined'. This is the biggest yawn going. Stop listening to the incessant derailer that you keep championing that pops up on these threads and over on FWR spouting this shite and do your own homework. Or start listening to the ones that have.

Women wanting to retain single sex spaces has nothing to do with being 'far right'. It's just another stick to beat women with. Scraping the barrel.

If the leader of the opposition can't get something as simple as 'what is a woman' right then what hope is there for the other issues that are apparent to faaaar more important.

Wrong quote. That was for @GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight

Very interesting article. And extremely illuminating..

‘Most private schools claim

• 80 per cent reduction in business rates
• Gift aid
• No tax payable on ‘profits’
• No tax payable on their investment income
• Covid Loans

Most state schools (‘academies’ are treated differently from others) don’t benefit from these tax breaks for various reasons. Most private schools are charities and only pay 20 per cent of their business rates, depriving cash-strapped local authorities of £144 million per year. It’s worth noting that certain specialist schools were exempt from this change. Private schools can also benefit from being able to claim gift aid on any donations, as can the donor. Let’s say you wanted to donate £100k to your old school and were a top rate tax payer. The school would be able to claim an additional £25,000 in gift aid from the tax-payer, and you would also be able to reclaim £31,250. Donate £100,000 to your local primary school and it actually costs you £100,000, so probably not worth it – just donate a bottle of wine instead! Parent-Teacher Associations can register as charities and claim gift aid, but they are only allowed to raise money for specific things, and not for the running costs of the school.

While charities aren’t allowed to make a profit, for many private schools, in practice this means they can make a nice surplus which then goes towards a new swimming pool, theatre, upgraded science equipment and so on. They don’t pay tax on any of the surplus, even if it’s sitting in a bank account.
Many private schools also have investment portfolios, and again, they don’t pay any tax on the income from these portfolios. In fact, there’s a nice tax loophole for the super-rich whereby they pay all their fees upfront, the school invests the lump sum, gets the returns tax-free, the parent receives a discount and once their child leaves, the school and parent split what’s left.
During the Covid-19 Pandemic, private schools were eligible to apply for a loan with the government covering the first year’s interest payments, which state schools could not apply for. Just another example of private schools benefiting financially from their charitable status, while state schools missed out.
The reason for all these tax breaks is down to the fact they are classed as charities.’

@AccidentallyWesAnderson
and if the PM has previously lied about loads of things what hope is there for the other promises he makes ? Promises made only when they were haemorrhaging voters.

No hope. Wouldn't be voting Tory either, they aren't for women and girls too. But at least get the simplest of facts right first. You aren't automatically Tory if you criticise Labour.

I can still absorb the cost of the VAT rise. I gusss I must work harder than you?

eyeroll

if you think a small percentage of wealthy people being made to pay more for their choice to educate their children privately is your deciding factor against all of the numerous issues this country is facing, then you probably are a Tory and should vote as such. Fuckitty bye!

Going by these threads there seems to be a huge number of people who send their kids to private school who really can’t afford it in the first place, and ought to have thought what would happen if prices increased/they lost their job/some other financial calamity occurred.

In reality the only people I know who’ve been to private school or are considering it can afford it comfortably, they have very well paying jobs, their wider family are well off so could pay if they lost their job, they live in very large houses in nice areas (so could remortgage/sell up if needs be) and have several foreign holidays a year.

@SoupChicken

Yes it's strange that.

But at the same time they are all so well paid and important that they can, a) stop working as many hours and deprive the tax man of a seriously large amount of income tax and b) so globally mobile because of their skill set that they can leave the country and be far better off ( and again deprive the tax man of that IT).

Exactly! And they all rather disrupt their child’s education and take them out of their school that they’ve ‘prioritised’ than cut back or remortgage to pay the VAT!

I was thinking maybe private school parents should deduct all of the services they pay for and don’t use. I might even become tax free!

Why are there so many threads on this?

The population with children at private school is small. I don't think it's going to damage Labour's chances much.