Here’s another hypocrisy to add to all the others. Republicans want to replace Obamacare subsidies for the poor and middle class with a standard, one-size-fits-all tax credit. Poor or rich, everyone who purchases insurance on the open market would receive the same dollar-value deduction.

Yet when it comes to taxes, Republicans want the exact opposite. Instead of every taxpayer receiving the same, equal, dollar-value tax cut, they instead want to reduce tax rates, which wholly benefits the rich. After all, a two-percent reduction on a million-dollar income is a hell of a lot more than two percent of $45k.

Basically, when it comes to healthcare, Republicans are preaching equality, arguing that the rich and poor should receive a near-identical benefit (even if the wealthy don’t really need the assistance in the first place). When it comes to taxes, on the other hand, Republicans preach the exact opposite. Benefits, they say, should accrue almost entirely to the wealthy (again, even as the wealthy don’t really need the windfall tax savings).

In other words, with government spending, Republicans believe everyone—rich, poor, middle class—should receive the same dollar-value benefit. But not, apparently, in the case of tax cuts. Tax cuts, they say should be entirely unequal. Some Americans are more entitled to tax cuts than others.

(To be fair, when it comes to who loses (the poor) and who benefits (the rich!), Republicans are remarkably consistent. But when it comes to the logic of their arguments, they fall flat.)

A fair and equitable tax cut would see each American taxpayer receive the same dollar-amount reduction in their tax bill. And this seems reasonable: after all, if government is too big, if Americans are paying too much in taxes, and if taxes are burdening families and small business, shouldn’t everyone be entitled to a similarly sized tax cut—just as everyone should be entitled to a similarly sized healthcare subsidy?

Clearly, that’s not how the Republicans see it. To them, equality matters only when it’s the rich who appear to be getting less. And nowhere is this plainer than in their current proposals for an Obamacare replacement and tax reform

The current iteration of Republicans’ Obamacare replacement would eliminate the insurance subsidies that are currently based on income, and replace them with tax credits based solely on age. Basically, two similarly aged individuals would receive the same tax treatment no matter their income, even if one was at the poverty line and the other a member of the 1%.

This is the definition of a regressive policy, because (a) wealthier recipients would be able to deduct income taxed in a higher bracket, thus reducing their tax bill by a greater value than those in lower brackets; and (b) the rich can already afford healthcare anyway. But as the Republicans seem to see it, why should the government only help the poor buy insurance? Rather, they say, everyone should be treated equally, and receive the same government support.

If only they followed the same logic when it came to tax cuts.

Where is the fairness or equality in this?

With control of both Congress and the Presidency, Republicans are in the position to pass much of their dream legislation. But please, as they attempt to gut Obamacare and cut taxes for the rich—and justify this in part by crying for more “equality”—let’s not pretend for a moment that they actually do want to treat every American the same.