Desperate Tory's ridiculous claim over Labour private school tax breaks plan
The Tory Education Secretary has resorted to making ridiculous claims about Labour ’s bonfire of private schools’ tax breaks.
Gillian Keegan launched into a rant on Twitter, ignoring economists who have found the plan would raise an extra £1.5billion that could be pumped into the state system. Instead, the Cabinet minister suggested it “may even cost the taxpayer money”.
Keir Starmer has pledged to axe tax perks enjoyed by fee-paying schools and use the cash to improve state schools instead. Private schools including Eton College currently do not have to charge VAT on fees. In England and Wales, they also get at least 80% relief on business rates.
But Rishi Sunak and his Cabinet have rejected the idea. Ms Keegan wrote on Twitter: “They would add VAT to private school fees, taxing aspiration and putting pressure on state schools. But experts say that this would only raise a fraction of the £1.6billion figure they've calculated and may even cost the taxpayer money.”
Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has outlined plans to plough cash into recruiting teachers (Daily Mirror..)The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) last month debunked claims the move would lead to an exodus of pupils into the state system, with Labour saying it would fund a massive teacher recruitment drive.
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The IFS found removing these tax breaks would push 3%-7% of private pupils back into the state school sector. But even taking into account extra annual spending of £100million-£300m for this influx of 20,000 to 40,000 pupils, the public purse would still be £1.3bn-£1.5bn better off per year, experts said.
In the report, IFS research fellow Luke Sibieta said: "Labour's proposals to remove tax exemptions are likely to raise an extra £1.3billion to £1.5billion after allowing for exemptions, deductions and extra school spending to cater for any pupils moving to the state sector. The evidence suggests higher fees are likely to have a weak effect on demand.
"As it is, we expect that the change in private school attendance levels will be small. This leads to surer increases in tax revenues and less need for additional public spending on state schools.”
It comes as Labour outlines plans to plough more cash into schools by recruiting more than 6,500 teachers and tackling acute shortages in schools. Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says she plans to “smash the class ceiling”, as research showed the bill for supply teachers rose by £431million in a year.
Labour researchers found that amounts that total spend by schools on supply teachers rose from £839 million to £1.2 billion in the last year, a rise of more than 50%. And Labour says the Government’s failure to address the schoolteacher workforce crisis has resulted in thousands of newly qualified teachers leaving the profession early.
Ms Phillipson said: “Supply teachers make a valuable contribution to our classrooms, but this rise in spending by schools suggest there are profound problems in wider teacher recruitment and retention.
“The Conservatives have created the perfect storm in our teaching workforce, with teachers old and new leaving and with too few replacing them. Our children will reap the whirlwind of lower school standards and worse life chances in years to come unless the Conservatives get to grips with the dangerous exodus of teachers that they created."
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