Liar liar pants on fire

Whatever the result of the election, Corbyn's Education Tax will lack legitimacy given the outright falsehoods being circulated about it

Assuming Labour win an outright majority their explicit manifesto commitments are, by convention, expected to come to life. The people have spoken and, whatever the rights and wrongs, the popular debate is done-and-dusted - the policy has acquired “manifesto legitimacy” at the ballot box. In theory.

In practice this “popular debate” has left much to be desired, and thus the “manifesto legitimacy” is weak. This post touches on some of the concerns, including outright falsehoods being circulated by some senior Labour candidates. If anyone has any more to add, please let me know (comment below)…to be clear, I’m not looking for “bad arguments” of which there’s no shortage, but actual lies and falsehoods.

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Questionable legitimacy

In the case of Corbyn’s Education Tax, I have several concerns about the “popular debate”.

• It leans entirely on the report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which is economically hopeless and about as independent as my hand from my arm.

• It’s gone through virtually unopposed for the bad reason that the Conservative Party didn’t fancy making an active case against it “because it was polling well” according to a SPAD I’m friendly with. It didn’t strike them that making an active case might have helped it poll less well. The absence of opposition has allowed Labour to justify this policy on the basis of “it’s good for the majority”…on which basis (even if it were true, which it’s not) we right-handers could, and should, demand a hefty tax on left-handers.

• The fact of “polling well” has featured repeatedly, but obscures the facts that

  • Few people REALLY care about it

  • Few people REALLY understand it

Outright fibs

The Electoral Commission reported here that misleading campaigns undermined trust in the 2019 election.

It’s one thing when candidates parrot the party line, or when they refer to analysis that we’re free to contest, or when they express opinions. The Education Not Taxation campaign has heard from many voters, principally (of course) private school families, about the narrative being told “on the ground” - on doorsteps, at hustings, in correspondence with MPs.

It’s quite another when they state outright falsehoods such as:

• “Private schools don't pay VAT and should pay it like other organisations” from no less than Yvette Cooper on prime time TV; the truth is that private schools pay VAT on inputs unlike state schools which reclaim it, and many many other organisations are not required to raise sales VAT, specifically virtually none of the comparable organisations in the extensively-defined education exemption (nurseries, childminders, after-school clubs in state schools, music and drama teachers, tutors etc.)

• “This would bring private schools in line with other educational services such as nurseries and childcare providers which are required to pay VAT” from Stephen Morgan MP emailed to a constituent from a Navy family. Morgan has been Shadow Minister for Schools, Shadow Armed Forces Minister and “has a keen interest in encouraging educational opportunities for all”. The truth is that nurseries and childcare providers do not raise VAT on sales because they are covered by the extensively-defined education exemption

• “Private schools are businesses making a profit” from Matt Western MP at hustings in his Warwick and Leamington constituency; the truth is that most independent schools are non-profits and to the extent some of them generate a surplus at all (many are struggling) it is re-invested into education services or other charitable objectives

• “State schools have to pay VAT on purchases so why shouldn’t private schools?” from a doorstep canvasser; the truth is that state schools have a unique tax break allowing them to reclaim input VAT without raising VAT on sales

• “Money raised from placing VAT onto the fees paid to private schools will raise an estimated £2 billion” from Kim Leadbeater, MP for Batley and Spen; as we all know the manifesto claims £1.51bn and that lies outside the most optimistic estimates of the most optimistic analysis

• “The issue here isn't imposing tax on private schools, as by default VAT applies across the board, it's whether or not private education should continue to qualify for a tax breaks which are typically only applied to goods continued to have added social benefit, even state schools have to pay VAT upfront.” This from Peter Lamb, Labour candidate for Crawley, in a ghastly long email to a voter. There’s more to it which I’ll go into another time

  • The issue IS imposing tax on private schools. Saying otherwise, don’t make it so.

  • VAT doesn’t apply “across the board” it just doesn’t apply to education at all (or healthcare, nurseries, groceries, water or children’s clothes)

  • It’s not a “tax breaks” (sic) it’s a tax saving worth £8-12k per child

  • Basic, mainstream economics holds that education has social benefit regardless who pays, and particularly where it saves the taxpayer £8-12k per child

  • Yet again, state schools have a unique tax break reclaiming VAT on inputs

Whether these people are deliberately lying, or they haven’t done their homework, is beside the point. Either way, it’s a poor platform for a 5-year stint running the country. More specifically, it’s a gaping wound to the manifesto legitimacy of this policy. Senior Labour figures don’t understand the policy and are willing to dissemble and deceive in order to divert challenges. We couldn't be further from Burkean “strictest union, closest correspondence, unreserved communication” within which MPs’ “enlightened conscience” enables them to exercise their judgment on our behalves.

This policy has been around since Jeremy Corbyn and there’s no excuse for this sort of conduct. Furthermore, I’m entirely confident this is the tip of the iceberg. As Labour are so fond of telling us, we’re a minority in the country. If this is what’s being reported to me

• as outright falsehoods by parents in the Education Not Taxation campaign;

• what Morgan, Lamb and Leaderbetter are foolish enough to put in writing to a constituent who wrote in complaint about the Education Tax;

• what canvassers are willing to say to actual private school parents;

…then just imagine how many more falsehoods are being told up and down the country to mislead persuade people, non-private school people who are typically less keen or able than me to investigate, interrogate and challenge Labour’s claims about the Education Tax.