The Republican candidates operate under the false perception that they are the party of “fiscal responsibility” because they terrorize the populace about the national debt when Democrats are trying to pay for programs they don’t like; because they insist that the “entitlement” programs like Social Security that have already been paid for are somehow “ruining” our economy,” and because their average voter has not the slightest idea how the economy our our budget actually works.

That’s why time and time again they present their “tax plans” to the American people, promising tax cuts for all! Who doesn’t like a good tax cut? Except the Republican voter is too misinformed to understand that recklessly cutting taxes will plunge our nation into the kind of financial crisis that Republican austerity hypocrites in the House have told our nation that President Obama’s policies will cause – even though he’s cut nearly a trillion dollars from our deficit.

Just take the collection of handouts to the wealthy and the budget-killing batch of corporate handouts that Donald Trump deigns to call a “tax plan.” According to the Hill, Trump’s plan calls for “for lowering the top individual tax rate to 25 percent from 39.6 percent and the corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent.” The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center analyzed the outcome of such drastic cuts and found that it would slice $9.5 trillion out of the federal budget – with $3.5 trillion of that going to corporate handouts. By 2026, the proposal would add $11.2 trillion to the national debt, and $34.1 trillion by 2036.