Maxwell Marlow, Director of Research at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“It is unsurprising that this tax raid is already running into trouble, and that experts are calling for it to be delayed past January. This tax would be incredibly complicated, more so than was initially promised.

As we have previously highlighted, levying VAT on school fees could lead to school closures, state schools becoming overwhelmed in certain areas, a reduction in opportunities for underprivileged children, and teacher redundancies. In a worse case scenario, it could even end up costing, rather than raising, money.

We urge the Government to take this opportunity to think again about applying VAT to school fees at all.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

For further comments or to arrange an interview with Maxwell, contact press@adamsmith.org | 0758 477 8207

The Adam Smith Institute has previously released two reports on the potential impact of charging VAT on private school fees:

• In ‘Short-Term Thinking’ we highlighted the economic savings that the existence of private schools creates for the Treasury, and  warned that the policy could raise no money at all, overwhelm state schools, and reduce bursary and scholarship opportunities for talented youngsters;

• In ‘Tuition Tensions’ we explained why parents who take their children out of private schools could choose to work fewer hours, with negative knock-on effects on the rest of the economy.

The Adam Smith Institute’s submission to the technical consultation on charging VAT on private school fees can be found here.

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