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Publication this week of the winning student essay from the competition we ran with Brunel University naturally led me to think about how we teach young people about taxation. At university level taxation is thought of as a hard subject. Not that long ago it looked as if tax could no longer be studied by undergraduates. Fortunately, thanks to the determined efforts of a few individuals, the position now seems brighter.
What about schools? Most of us would support the inclusion of some basic tax information in the national curriculum. I recall Nicky Morgan saying at the 2018 chartered tax advisers address that she could see the attraction of this but, as education secretary, she was faced with many worthy suggestions of what should be included – there simply was not space for everything. Tax does however sometimes find a place within the citizenship course.
HMRC has produced some excellent videos for young people explaining what they will need to do when they start paying tax, but I am not sure how much is available about the broader issues of tax in society. There are some interesting online videos in this area, but they do seem to be pushing agendas rather than necessarily giving a balanced view to stimulate debate.
