The government will soon be closing what it describes as tax loopholes for private schools, to benefit of state-funded schools. The move was one of the Labour party’s key education pledges before its July election win . At the moment, private schools don’t have to pay the standard 20% VAT - or value added tax - on fees they charge, and those that operate as charities are eligible for an 80% discount on the rates they pay on their premises. What do locals think?
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00:00The government will soon be closing what it's described as tax loopholes for private schools
00:07to benefit state-funded schools.
00:10The move was one of Labour's party's key education pledges before its July election
00:15win.
00:16At the moment, private schools don't have to pay the standard 20% VAT or value-added
00:22tax on fees they charge, and those that operate as charities are eligible for an 80% discount
00:28on the rates they pay on their premises.
00:31But what do locals think?
00:33I think it's wrong.
00:34Could you tell me why you think it's wrong?
00:37Because the people that can't afford to the increased costs will come on the state system
00:44and that's going to overload it even more.
00:47Therefore, it's unsatisfactory, bad decision.
00:50My opinion on that, I never went to private school myself, but I went to state schools,
00:54but my opinion of that is I feel that every child, if their parents have the finances,
01:01in every case, sometimes they're sponsored, aren't they, children, to go to these schools.
01:04It's not a case of the parents having plenty of money, which they do, but some children
01:09are sponsored to go to these schools.
01:11So I'm of the opinion maybe it's not a great idea.
01:15Some private schools are responding by putting up their fees, sometimes by the full 20%.
01:22As I say, I do know that there's a lot of children that are sponsored to go to these
01:27private schools, more and more than we actually think.
01:29I mean, although I never had the opportunity of going to a private school, I'm sure if
01:34I applied myself when I was a child, I'm sure I would have been, you know, and I would have
01:39been grateful for the opportunity.
01:42But there are quite a lot of children that are sponsored to go to these schools.
01:45Their parents don't have the money.
01:49They may do very well academically in the state schools they were in before, and that's
01:55what allows them access to the private schools to get a better education, yeah, yeah.