Vince, **** this. **** you, man. - Page 5

Scroll to see replies

Taken from the FT, reasons this is a bad idea:

1. The dead hand of state control

A graduate tax will kill any sense of a market in university degrees, as all funding will be centralised. Bureaucrats will divvy up the cash for the university courses they judge to be worthy. Instead of following the informed decisions of students, the money will follow the whims of Whitehall. This tax “reform” would effectively run universities like the Further Education sector. Brilliant.

2. A student loan you never pay off

The main difference with the student loans (which are paid back on the basis of income) is that a graduate tax never ends. Regardless of what your course costs, you keep on paying the government. It spreads the pain from a graduate’s 20s into their 30s and 40s. It particularly punishes people from poor backgrounds who do well out of university, just the kind of incentive we need for ambitious entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, rich people will be able to exploit an option to pay less up-front, if it is available.

3. Threat of a brain drain

The graduate tax will be impossible to implement fairly. Without a wholesale overhaul of our tax system, those who move overseas will be exempt, whatever their earnings. It’s one more reason to leave Britain’s banking sector. Meanwhile, all those people who come to Britain to study will be put off. A graduate tax will likely lead to a hike in up-front university fees (to make lifetime payments more equal and stop rich Brits from dodging the tax by paying up-front). That’s one more reason for the Chinese and Indians to go to Harvard.

4. It raises no money (at least in the short term)

There is a crisis in the public finances. A graduate tax will raise serious money by making a profit on university education. But realistically it won’t help the Treasury for five to ten years. In fact, it will probably make this spending review even harder. Immediately replacing student fees with a graduate tax will cost billions of pounds.

Reply 81

DaveSmith99

I hope they never manage to get this through. Its just ridiculous.

Reply 82

Complex Simplicity

lol always thought vince was a little short-sited what with his proposed cap on bonuses to £2500 which would cripple London in months. Now he's come up with quite possibly the worst idea for sorting out the tuition fees problem. HELLO it's not exactly difficult to relocate to Europe what with Britain being part of the EU. This is just one more reason why academics, how spend little time in the real world, have no business making decisions that will affect real people. I'm ecstatic that he isn't our Chancellor (what a disaster that would have been!!)

Reply 83

username358506

Everyone, up to Scotland!

Reply 84

username133326

SFsucks

Why, your party brought in Top-Up fee anyway and a horrid war.

both measures which the tories supported anyway - so lesser of two evils

Reply 85

3006

Aphotic Cosmos

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10631013

Apparently Vince wants a graduate tax instead of tuition fees. What a ******* joke. I mean, I can understand tuition fees to an extent - it makes sense for us to subsidise at least part of our education as long as the poor are given grants instead of loans - but a graduate tax is just punishing everyone who wants to go to university, because surely the highest graduate earners will get taxed the most, even if they pay it off quickly they're going to be hit hard and fast once they leave university.

Your thoughts on this?

Right, so those that have worked hard throught school/college/uni and got a good degree from a good uni and hence have got better paying jobs have to pay more tax/more tution fees than those who have never ever worked hard in their lives.

Typical LibDem policy, tax the rich because they've got no money, not thinking about why they've got more money.
Lets hope Dave stops this.

Reply 86

magicbuspass

Any people rich enough to make an impact in the coffers in the graduate tax system would be rich enough to avoid paying it.

Reply 87

Ipso Facto

3006

Lets hope Dave stops this.

I never thought I'd find myself hoping he'd step in and save the day. :rolleyes:

Reply 88

Richiboi

I am wealthy from the point of i have enough stashed away to pay for my degree, so this proposal would be to my detriment. I can pay off my loans from my savings fairly straightforward-ly, so a levy on my income would just be **** for me.

Reply 89

werd123

I actually think it's quite a good idea from just looking at the article. Raising tuition fees would just punish the middle class as they wouldn't qualify for grants but would find the raise ridiculous, so a much more gradual system is actually quite good imo.

Reply 90

kellywellydoodle

Can we all write complaints to the government now?! You only need like 20 odd people to write a letter of complaint before they have to look at it again

Reply 91

Byllie

magicbuspass

Any people rich enough to make an impact in the coffers in the graduate tax system would be rich enough to avoid paying it.

A socialist at Sussex

Original :facepalm2:

Reply 92

yoyo462001

Is this just for those who opt for student loans or all graduates?

Reply 93

kellywellydoodle

alan910_2

Chill out. If you can't be civil, I'm not interested.

OK I've read your post. I don't see how the 'hardworking' would have to pay for lazy people. Everyone will pay tax according to their own income. If you're earning well, you pay more tax.

Yes, I did actually say that about unemployed not paying it back. Read the 'ethic' line.

If you're unemployed all your life, you don't need to pay back your student loan. That's true.

It sucks to think that having worked really hard, finished a degree and got a really high-flying job to then get taxed for the degree that you have completed, paying back more than you originally borrowed. Just because everyone will have to pay a tax doesn't make it right. No-one should have to pay more than they have originally borrowed. Fees are through the roof as it is. The only people that will suffer from this are people (like me) who are first-generation uni students whose parents aren't as well educated or well-off. I'm sorry but I don't see why anyone would prefer to pay more money...that's not logical.

Reply 94

Bramlow

You only have yourselves to blame.

A loan is actually much fairer way of dealing with the costs. It's just the students keep whining about how they're 'crippled' with debt once they graduate, and how it's a 'dark cloud' hanging over their lives. Get over it.

Reply 95

coolmushroom

They should scrap grants.

Reply 96

Butane

In the interest of fairness I'm sure Vince and his other fatcat chums who no doubt enjoyed a free university education at the expense of the British tax payer will be happy to pay this tax themselves (including backdating), yes?

Reply 97

Byllie

coolmushroom

They should scrap grants.

lol...stfu

Reply 98

callum9999

kellywellydoodle

1. Where does it say that there won't be a cap? You are just making up a picture where it makes everyone worse off and then blaming the government. Surely you should wait and hear how it actually works before getting outraged by it.

2. Tuition fees don't even remotely cover tuition costs (hence why reviews like this happen) so they can hardly be called "through the roof" - and this is coming from someone who can barely afford them now.

Reply 99

hypocriticaljap

kellywellydoodle

Can we all write complaints to the government now?! You only need like 20 odd people to write a letter of complaint before they have to look at it again