POST offices will be busy today and throughout the weekend with thousands of taxpayers excited to pick up their tax refunds. About $93 million in tax refund checks were mailed out yesterday. This will be the first time in 20 years that they will have filed their taxes and received their money in the same year. It took a long, hard-fought battle to get here, but this administration never gave up the good fight.

We made some tough, unpopular decisions. We drew the line and said this government could no longer continue the bad practice of carrying the heavy financial burden on the backs of taxpayers. We said we were going to pay tax refunds and we made it happen. My fellow Guamanians, this is the Calvo-Tenorio way. When we say we're going to do something, we're going to do it, no matter how long it takes or how hard we have to work at it.

Well, it may be in the mail today. And I know there are some critics who will knit-pick with, ‘What about this’ and ‘What about that?’ But let me ask those critics something in return: Do you remember the last time the people received their tax refund in the same year they filed?

This is an historic year because for the first time in Guam history, the government actually put money away into the tax refund account. For years, this government wasn't making good on its financial obligations to the people, nor was it looking toward the future to make an effort to pay down debts and put some money aside. I want to point this out and commend the governor for his management of the people’s money.

The tax refunds you’re getting today – that you filed in the last six months – are the result of the change we campaigned on. Today wouldn’t be possible had we not fought for change. And the governor and I also want to give credit to those in the Legislature and to our mayors who advocated for this change as well. It wasn’t everybody in the Legislature and among the mayors, but it was most. We leave it to you to remember who fought for you when your voices are heard later this year.

But the work is far from done. The change has only begun. Gov. Calvo said something very interesting the other day when he delivered his address on education. He said even if we pay tax refunds on time every year, got a million more tourists from China, and grew sales and receipts to $15 billion a year, none of that will matter if Guamanians are not prosperous in the long term.

Gov. Calvo and I are fully committed to the short-term solutions that will help Guamanians through the tough times. These are commitments like tax refunds, affordable housing, the fight against drugs and crime, and better access to medical care. But it’s not what we can do for our generation that will make the big difference. Sure, these things will help us now. What will matter when we’re all old or gone and our children and grandchildren have taken over, is whether we gave them better lives than we had.

My fellow Guamanians, we truly have a lot to celebrate today. Celebrate your hard work and the return of your hard-earned money. Celebrate the graduates who made good on the promise of education and encourage them to take the skills and knowledge they've learned even further. Celebrate the transformation of a government that will lead by example. Know that in the face of adversity, we will always work hard and do what's right for the people.

Enjoy your weekend. Have fun with your refunds; and this graduation season, be safe, and join us in our journey toward reform.