A PORTHMADOG councillor has welcomed the news that the town is being considered as a location for the new Welsh Revenue Authority headquarters.

The new body is being set up by Welsh ministers to collect taxes from 2018. The Welsh Government is taking over the setting and collection of landfill tax and a replacement for stamp duty, to be called the Welsh Land Transaction Tax.

The new tax collection body will be known as the Welsh Revenue Authority or WRA.

Porthmadog town councillor Simon Brooks said: “The town council wrote to the government some months ago asking that the new Welsh Revenue Authority be located in Porthmadog.

“It was good to hear Carwyn Jones, the First Minister, say in the Assembly that Porthmadog is an option.

“We have expertise in Porthmadog in tax collection and advice, and I think that the way ahead for rural Wales is for different areas to build on existing strengths.

“Keeping the HMRC tax office in the town is the number one priority.

“Locating the Welsh Revenue Authority here as well to collect Welsh taxes means we would have a tax hub in the town."

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