Industry News
VAT suggested for private school fees
Posted on 12th December 2007
Parents should have to pay VAT on their children's independent school fees, a thinktank close to the government has claimed.
The Fabian Society has suggested doing so could raise as much as £2,500 a year extra, which could be used to fund poorer state schools, the Daily Telegraph states.
Sunder Katwala, the society's general secretary, said: "Putting VAT on private school fees could finance an opportunity fund to tackle educational disadvantage," the newspaper reports.
In the past, private school supporters have argued that parents who place their children in private schools relieve the state of the financial burden of their education, freeing up further funds for comprehensives.
According to the Independent Schools Council, private school fees increased by nearly six per cent during 2006-07.
It reports that the average fees per term at a day school are £2,707 and at a boarding school £6,712.
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