In the United Kingdom, it’s a bad time to be rich. In August, new Labour prime minister Keir Starmer warned that things would “get worse before they get better.” Almost certainly that means more taxes. No amount of Lexapro can minimize the teeth-gnashing among the nation’s 1-percenters agonizing over the possibility of increased tax on capital gains.
But far beyond the terrace of the Turf Club, the most consequential measure is the 20 percent V.A.T. (value-added tax) that will be applied to private-school tuition. Previously reserved for goods and services such as clothing, electronics, new cars, and hotels, the V.A.T. will affect 615,000 children at 2,600 institutions. The tax aims to raise $2 billion to hire 6,500 new public-school teachers. And it’s popular: the latest polling reveals that 55 percent of Britons support the plan.
