Any time our elected leaders declare a tax holiday for us, it is a time to celebrate throughout the state and to take advantage of the savings brought forth by the tax break.

For a number of years, the state of Georgia allowed a tax holiday the weekend before most schools started.

This tax break offered great savings for parents and a boon for the local economy, as many people took advantage of the opportunity to save money and, in turn, used that savings to buy more products.

For the past two years, our wise leaders did away with tax break, citing the recession and a decline in Georgia's tax revenue as the reason. Lawmakers decided to reinstated it this year due to Georgia businesses losing back-to-school sales to stores in neighboring states that offer tax holidays.

So this weekend, there will be a tax holiday on many school items; we should all be grateful to our elected leaders for this magnanimous gesture of support and relief for their constituents.

There is only one problem with this weekend's tax holidays: unfortunately most schools in the state have already started, including the schools in Newton County.

Although we appreciate any effort not to charge folks tax on what they need to buy, especially to help support their children, maybe next year, our elected officials will plan this tax-free school weekend early enough so that it is beneficial to the families it is supposed to help.