If Labour has its way in the UK, Jewish parents will have to pay a hefty tax on chinuch
The change, which was confirmed in the government’s budget last week, will have potentially devastating financial ramifications for chareidi schools, the vast majority of which are private to enable them to maintain a curriculum compatible with Torah hashkafos.
The UK is renowned for its world-class, exclusive private schools, which have disproportionately produced figures of influence in British politics, media, and business. Eton College, for example, has produced countless prime ministers, cabinet ministers, and business leaders; it charges £52,750 per year, and boasts an indoor swimming pool and sports center among its amenities. Winchester College, which former PM Rishi Sunak attended, also charges around £50,000 annually, and is furnished with its own archery range and art gallery.
It’s precisely these elite institutions catering to children of privilege that Labour is targeting, arguing that either affluent parents can cough up an additional 20 percent, or these wealthy schools can absorb the cost of the tax increase without passing it on to parents.
Labour has promised to allocate the revenue it raises (projected to be around £1.6 billion, though estimates vary as to its true total when accounting for pupils who will have to move to the state sector as private education becomes even less affordable) to state education, which they claim will equalize outcomes for the privately and publicly educated.
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