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If a fee is to be added – why not have it ‘user pays’ – similar to GST
With over 40 celebrants on the mid north coast of NSW it’s very difficult to obtain ceremonies – There has been a huge increase in the number appointed to this area (and they’re still coming) in the past three years.
If a fee is to be added – why not have it ‘user pays’ – similar to GST. It would also mean that clients would all be charged the same amount for the Government fee on top of the celebrants’ fees. It would mean that those celebrants who are lucky enough to have 52 bookings per year would be paying the same pro-rata as a celebrant who only has a dozen bookings for whatever reason. This is not an industry which sustains full time employment IMHO. Most celebrants need another source of income to pay for the costs incurred in the celebrant work particularly in the beginning with the initial outlay for equipment, stationery, advertising, training etc.
Margie Rankin CMC
Nambucca Heads NSW
I would like to see "a minimal fee"
As a struggling little fish in the celebrant sea I would like to see "a minimal fee", for example, $100 only be imposed upon us
OR
a fair system is needed, for example, "the user pays" would be more manageable for me personally than one lump sum each year.
D O'Connell
Coramba NSW
"overtaxing the taxes"
I think what the main worry is how much will it be? I could handle a fee of $100 far better than $600, I think they are "overtaxing the taxes" if you will pardon the pun.
It depends on location, location, location when setting prices for weddings and namings and if I try to charge the same as the North Shore for instance, I would price myself out of the market, if I have to factor it in to my price then it will make me less competitive and I lose a fair bit to BDM already. I have found around my area that fancy Weddings are not as popular, it has a high intake of overseas couples who prefer to have their religious ceremonies in their home land, without actually registering the marriage and then come here and just have the "legals" as they call it. No bells and definitely no whistles.
Taken the romance out of it I hear you say? I am performing a ceremony shortly on a Monday morning at 9.30am before the couple go to work, no music, no photos, no dressing up. As I see it now-a-days if I don't move with the times living in a business capital then the times will move without me.
If we are given a voice, the least we can do is try and convince the AG to make the tax affordable and manageable and keep it fair that all Celebrants pay it not just Civil Celebrants. Can we somehow make ourselves heard loud enough as a group, so that they listen and take it into consideration?
Pamela Fynan
Parramatta NSW
The more you do the more you pay - no!
Reading where the suggestion was that we pay $100.oo to the BDM for each of our submitted marriages would be unfair. The maths is there staring at you, the more you do the more you pay. Sorry, but NO!
I would prefer a set annual fee of say $500.00 as part of a registration fee, coupled with a tax return with any payment including items such as OPD and other studies that one may take to further develop our career as a Celebrant.
I don't mind paying for what I am worth but I also like to receive that in return for my worth.
Terrance Weston
Perth WA
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