In June 2024 Local Government NSW issued the following media release:
Another ‘nail in the coffin’ for family budgets as cemetery tax confirmed
Local Government NSW has criticised the State Government for pushing ahead with its controversial “cemeteries tax” as families across the state struggle with the cost of living crisis.
Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW (CCNSW) has confirmed that the new tax of $156 per burial, $63 per ash interment and $41 per cremation will be levied on large operators from 1 July 2024, just under a month away. Large operators are those who carry out more than 50 interments per year. For smaller operators the levy will commence from 1 July 2025.
LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said the levy was just the latest example of cost-shifting onto local government.
“Across NSW, council cemeteries undertake more than 40 percent of all burials. This rises to more than 80 percent of all burials in rural and regional NSW, so this unnecessary new tax will hit our rural and regional communities the hardest.
“The announcement of this new impost on councils and communities also makes a mockery of the NSW Government’s commitment to seriously consider the impacts of cost shifting, and comes at the same time the NSW parliament is undertaking hearings for its review of local government financial sustainability.”
The State Government announced the levy just before Easter this year, advising that the costs were to fund the increased regulation of the interment industry. At the time, LGNSW called on the Government to fund the regulation from its core budget rather than seek to recoup cost from operators, including local councils. Now, with the imminent implementation of the tax confirmed, the local government sector says the timelines are simply unworkable.
“Our councils will not have time to properly exhibit and approve any fee increase to cover this, as required under the Local Government Act,” Cr Turley said.
“At the same time, we simply cannot absorb this levy into current operational budgets. Whether this year or next, councils will therefore have to pass on the levy to their residents and community members, making interment services more expensive for grieving individuals and families who are going through one of the most challenging circumstances of their lives.
“Quite frankly, the announcement of this levy is premature and ill-considered, with key design and implementation features remaining unresolved.
"Chief among those concerns is that CCNSW still has not provided any information to address the GST treatment queries that councils have raised. Also, there is a significant concern that for pre-need purchased interments already sold by councils, CCNSW advice confirms that the cemetery operator – including councils – is now liable for paying the levy.
"Respectful and affordable interment services are a critical public service provided by local government cemetery operators. LGNSW calls on the Premier to step in and reverse this Government decision to impose a burial and cremation tax on the community, particularly during a cost of living crisis." [my yellow highlighting]
According to Cemeteries & Crematoria NSW the purpose of the Internment Services Levy is as follows:
Funds raised through the levy are used to improve protections for customers, maintain fair and consistent standards for the sector, monitor and enforce compliance, and deliver continuing education for operators and their staff to help them meet the new standards.
The levy was to have applied in the Clarence Valley Local Government Area since 1 July 2024, because Clarence Valley Council is considered under this new cost shifting measure by the Minn Labor Government to be a "large operator" as it has 13 cemeteries available to the Clarence Valley community at:
• Clarence Lawn
• Copmanhurst
• Coutts Crossing
• Eatonsville/Mylneford
• Glenreagh
• Grafton
• Iluka
• Lawrence
• Maclean Lawn
• Nymboida
• Maclean
• South Grafton
• Ulmarra
The levy will commence for local governments which are considered "small operators" around 1 July 2025.
However, there has been enough push back by cemetery & crematoria operators for Cemeteries and Crematoria NSW to have announced:
Delayed commencement of 3 licence conditions to 1 October 2024
The start date for the consumer contract, pricing transparency and maintenance licence conditions will be amended from 1 July 2024 to 1 October 2024 to allow more time for industry adjustment. We encourage operators who are ready to implement these conditions now to maintain their positive momentum and begin complying from 1 July. For those operators who are not yet ready this extension allows additional time to prepare.
Operators who hold a licence will receive notification of their amended conditions prior to 1 July. The Interment Industry Scheme page will be updated to reflect this change.
It is uncertain if Clarence Valley Council will avail itself of this minor 'concession'.
However, at its last Ordinary Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, 24 July 2024 Clarence Valley Council unanimously resolved to:
1. note that the NSW Government has announced a new cost shift onto Council and our community, by imposing a new tax on burials, cremations and ash interments.
2. write to the NSW Premier and Minister for Lands and Property asking that they urgently reverse their decision to impose a new tax on all burials and cremations.
It would appear that, unless the Minns Government relents, valley residents and ratepayers will be forced to pay the bill for a chronic shortage of metropolitan burial plots.
The former Berejiklian Coalition Government and subsequent Perrottet Coalition Government never gave a thought as to how metropolitan cemeteries in particular would cope with the growing numbers of deaths occurring on their watch or, if either premier did they expected to pass the problem — of an ageing population combined with ongoing SARS-CoV-2 related excess deaths — on to those state governments following them, which in the first instance is the Minns Labor Government.
The Minns Government then decided that regional areas such as the Clarence Valley would be among the first to subsidise its band-aid solution, with all 96 regional councils operating cemeteries/crematoria having the levy imposed by mid-2025.
