Private schools can’t complain about Labour’s VAT raid

Of course Labour’s policy of charging VAT on private school fees is all about throwing a bit of red meat to those in the party who are motivated by class envy. Why otherwise expend so much political effort on a policy which in the opinion of the Institute of Fiscal Studies will only raise £1.6 billion a year? And that, of course, is mere guesswork. No-one really knows how the parents of private school pupils will really behave when whacked with a 20 per cent uplift in fees.

Even if parents don’t withdraw pupils immediately, many might be tempted to do so at the end of prep school – and it will certainly impact on the decisions of parents whose children haven’t yet reached school age. Every UK pupil withdrawn from the private sector will cost the taxpayer far more than they would have raised in VAT had they stayed. The average fee for a private school pupil this year is £15,200, the VAT on which comes to £3,040.