Fleecing the foreigners Available to Purchase

This month sees another swingeing increase in the fees for overseas students attending British institutions of further and higher education: an increase of nearly one‐third. Of this, a rise of 9% is attributable to the last Government, which had decided to keep fees at the same real value as in the last academic year. The rest is the responsibility of the present Government. I suppose it could be argued that part of their increase too was occasioned by the need to keep fees in line with general levels of inflation, since they have themselves deliberately and sharply increased price levels by their taxation policies, their demands upon the nationalised industries, and the abolition of the Price Commission. But unhappily overseas students do not benefit from the commensurate reduction in British direct taxation; few fall into that happy little group who used to pay tax at 83% and will now enjoy the blessed relief of a 60% maximum rate. But most of the additional increase is in any event designed to be straightforward profit‐taking, an activity with which the members of Her Majesty's present Government are very familiar.