When Canadians rang in the New Year on January 1, they received another tax break from the Government. It was a good way to start 2008.

The tax in question was another 1% reduction in the Goods and Services Tax(GST). The GST is now 5%, down 2% from where it stood in 2006.

What does that mean to you and me? It means every time we go shopping whether for small items including necessities like groceries, medicine and toiletries or big items such as homes and cars, the two-point reduction will save the average working family hundreds of dollars on day-to-day purchases and thousands of dollars on larger items.

For Canadian consumers, the total savings from the two per cent reduction will be almost $12 billion next year. It doesn’t matter who you are or what income bracket you are in, a cut to the GST is a tax cut for everyone.

When Canadians elected the current government on January 23, 2006 Canadians did so in part because Stephen Harper promised that a Conservative government would bring your taxes down.

The Government has followed through on that commitment, not only by cutting the GST but by cutting taxes that affect seniors, low-income Canadians, middle-income families, business and Corporations.

Since coming to office, the Government has taken action to cut sales, income and business taxes, reducing the overall tax burden for Canadians and businesses by close to $200 billion, and bringing taxes to the lowest level they have been in nearly 50 years.

Practically speaking it comes down to the bottom line on our income tax returns. In the next two months we will be filling out our tax forms and it will be evident then, if it is not already, just how those tax cuts translate into real savings.

And to ensure that you get the most out of those tax cuts on your 2007 return, I am sending out a handbook to each household in the riding that will outline the tax cuts to which you are entitled to ensure that you are not paying more tax than you need to. Watch for it in your mailbox.

One final word to say about tax cuts; these tax cuts are a result of sound fiscal management by the government and a commitment to the belief that Canadians should not be paying more tax than necessary.

Does it mean that your tax reductions are coming at the expense of important expenditures such as literacy, arts and culture, the environment or disaster relief?

The answer is no. As of this January, since 2006, federal program funding coming in to our riding so far totals over $10.2 million for projects including our airport, the environment, transit, skills and job training, agricultural, the arts, literacy, youth and assisted living.

That number will rise as we see more funding coming to Kelowna-Lake Country to help address infrastructure issues like Highway 97 and, with fingers crossed, passport services.

Sound fiscal management is in place, our community is reaping the benefits, and we are all keeping more of our hard-earned dollars. We should feel good about that. We’ve earned it.