General Election 2024: General UK Politics Discussion here

[hackey lad]

3 hours ago, Baron99 said:

I wouldn't mind being a penny behind this guy Lord Ali.   I bet he's glad the Socialist aren't in charge with the wedge he's got. 

 

Latest on the news tonight, Sir Blair Starmer accepted a 6 week freebie at Lord Ali's £18 million, central London penthouse apartment.  The stay was estimated to be worth around £20,000. 

 

Why?  He did it for his son who needed somewhere quiet to revise for his GCSE's as the Starmer house was apparently 'besieged' by journalists.  As you do.  What a good dad he is. 

Starmer has lied about this.

[Prettytom]

2 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Starmer has lied about this.

Oh, do go on.

 

Let’s have your evidence for that

[High Chaparral]

11 hours ago, Prettytom said:

Do keep up.

 

There is a tax break for the wealthy. They currently don’t have to pay VAT on school fees. Soon that exemption will end and they’ll have to pay the tax.

 

Its pretty simple really.

You're wrongly assuming only the wealthy pay for private education.  Most parents who pay for private education  for their children aren't wealthy and need to make sacrifices in order to do so.  VAT on school fees is a punishment for hard working parents delivered  by the dreadful Labour government.

 

[despritdan]

The way to ensure the broadest shoulders bear the heaviest burden is to increase income tax which is progressive but they promised not to do this which was a huge mistake. All they've done so far is to scrap the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners, including thousands who qualify for pension credit because their incomes are low but don't claim it for various reasons and impose a regressive tax on education.

[Prettytom]

1 hour ago, High Chaparral said:

You're wrongly assuming only the wealthy pay for private education.  Most parents who pay for private education  for their children aren't wealthy and need to make sacrifices in order to do so.  VAT on school fees is a punishment for hard working parents delivered  by the dreadful Labour government.

 

The fees for Sheffield Girls High, or Birkdale are in the order of £20 000 per year. Anyone with that much spare cash lying around is pretty wealthy, by any measure.

 

Certainly wealthy enough to not need hand outs from the state in the form of unwarranted tax relief.

[Mister M]

1 hour ago, High Chaparral said:

You're wrongly assuming only the wealthy pay for private education.  Most parents who pay for private education  for their children aren't wealthy and need to make sacrifices in order to do so.  VAT on school fees is a punishment for hard working parents delivered  by the dreadful Labour government.

 

So why don't the schools lower their fees?

[Prettytom]

10 hours ago, Prettytom said:

Oh, do go on.

 

Let’s have your evidence for that

[Prettytom]

1 minute ago, Mister M said:

So why don't the schools lower their fees?

They could do that easily by employing fewer teachers and bringing their class sizes into line with state schools.

[alchresearch]

9 minutes ago, Prettytom said:

The fees for Sheffield Girls High, or Birkdale are in the order of £20 000 per year. Anyone with that much spare cash lying around is pretty wealthy, by any measure.

 

There's many  other private schools around in the north that charge far less than that.

 

There's a prep school in Liverpool that charges less than £10,000.

 

 

And these parents don't have "that much spare cash lying around" - some of them work extra jobs, live in cheaper houses so their kids can have a better start.  

 

You'd do well to read this from the TES

 

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/taxing-private-schools-truth-behind-bluster

 

[High Chaparral]

8 minutes ago, Prettytom said:

The fees for Sheffield Girls High, or Birkdale are in the order of £20 000 per year. Anyone with that much spare cash lying around is pretty wealthy, by any measure.

 

Certainly wealthy enough to not need hand outs from the state in the form of unwarranted tax relief.

There are private schools that charge less than £10,000 per year for day pupils.  Some faith schools much lower.  It's not uncommon for grandparents to help with the cost.  20%  VAT will add £2,000 to a fee of £10,000 which will add pressure to a non wealthy family to keep their child at private school.