The recently announced plans of the UK government to apply VAT to private schools could pose a direct threat to the future of cathedral choirs.
It means a 1,000-year legacy of priceless choral education could be imperilled, amounting to an "unthinkable" loss for British culture, Peter Kingston, Musical Director of Somerset Choral Society and former organist of Downside Abbey, writes in the Daily Telegraph.
For centuries, children with musical gifts have had their lives transformed through the opportunity to join cathedral choirs, many of whose places were made possible by scholarships that relied on private schools having an exemption from VAT. But that access may soon be out of reach for many come the end of the exemption from next January thereby adding 20 per cent tax on current costs.
