Price of getting hitched rises for couples and celebrants

NZ Herald 18 June 2017
Family First Comment: Very good point!
“My contention is, in a country that says we want to value marriage a licence should be granted on application for no fee.”
A priest is up in arms over new wedding celebrant charges and a leap in the price of wedding licences, claiming it is a tax on marriage.

The Department of Internal Affairs last month increased a range of wedding-related fees, including upping the price of a registry office wedding from $174 to $240.

Father Brian Prendeville from St John the Evangelist Catholic Parish in Otara, Auckland, said the DIA should value marriage, not hit couples with fees.

“My contention is, in a country that says we want to value marriage a licence should be granted on application for no fee.”

Why should couples have to pay to get married? So the Government can keep a record of who is married, where they are, where they are living? That’s in the interest of government to do that not in the interest of a couple getting married.

“So why should they be burdened with a tax?”
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