Victoria’s most expensive private schools will be taxed more in the next financial year.
From July 1, non-government schools with an income higher than $15,000 per student per year will be subjected to payroll tax, as part of changes announced by the Victorian state government last year.
Previously, non-government schools were exempt from payroll tax, regardless of their total income from state funding, federal funding, and tuition.
The move will see some private schools charged more taxes to the state government than they receive in funding.
Under the new changes, Haileybury, a private school with three campuses across Melbourne which charges tuition fees of $39,000 per year for grades 10-12, will pay an estimated $3.4 million dollars in payroll tax more than the funding it will receive from the state government.
However, this does not take into consideration federal funding – Haileybury was overfunded against the Schooling Resource Standard by $5,101,372 in 2023 and is projected to receive $19,139,650 above the expected Commonwealth funding standard from 2023-2028.
But only 8 per cent of schools will pay the tax, including Melbourne’s most elite like Methodist Ladies College, Carey Grammar, Scotch College and Xavier.
Some schools have already raised fees or introduced levies to offset the tax. Xavier College, which charges $35,115 per year for grade 9-12 students, has introduced a “payroll tax levy” of $885 a year per student, passing the burden onto parents.
The Opposition has long argued all schools should be exempt from the tax.
“Dozens of schools are now having to pay the Allan government millions of dollars just to continue their much-needed work providing education to Victorian children,” Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson told The Age.
“Non-government schools are an essential part of our education system – they take significant pressure off the government system – and shouldn’t be made to pay for the privilege of providing educational choice to parents and students across the state.”
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