A healthy applause and good cheers greeted the news when it was announced that in three days, the new Portmore tax and revenue centre had collected $30 million from residents in the community.

This announcement was made by Minister of Finance Audley Shaw, who was giving the keynote address at the formal opening of the 30th Revenue Centre to be open in Jamaica. "We are pleased to announce that on the last of July, when we checked, $30 million was collected from 2811 residents of Portmore who came forward and paid over their taxes."

The minister added that it was really encouraging that persons in the municipality showed that they appreciated the effort of former mayor, George Lee, and their current mayor, Keith Hinds, who lobbied hard for the tax administration to put a revenue centre in Portmore, as for too long only 29 per cent of persons were paying their taxes.

new facilities

It was agreed that Portmore has the potential to do well and paying their taxes is one good thing.

Mayor Keith Hinds thanked his predecessor for starting the journey that he has completed and implored residents to pay their taxes to allow Portmore to grow.

Persons, such as Portmore Chamber of Commerce president, Dr Dane Levy, endorsed the opening of the new facilities. He told THE PORTMORE STAR, "This will help more productivity in Portmore as persons won't have to travel all the way to Kingston and Spanish Town, and all the taxes paid will go directly to the municipality."