I am concerned about this country’s national debt, and my blood is boiling after reviewing the budget outline released recently by the Senate Budget Committee.

I used to vote Republican because I believed Republicans were the fiscally responsible party. I was wrong. Since Ronald Reagan, deficits have increased under every Republican administration and decreased under every Democratic administration.

By 2022, the proposed budget would increase U.S. debt by $719 billion more than the current budget. From 2022-2026, America’s projected debt increases a total of $4.6 trillion.

To paraphrase Reagan, “there they go again.” Republicans are back in power and out the window goes any real attempt to control deficits.

One reason for the deficit increase is the tax cuts the new administration wants to pass. The national deficit problem cannot be addressed by cutting spending only. Revenues cannot be cut. Taxes on the wealthy should not be cut. Nearly 47 percent of proposed tax cuts will go to the richest 1 percent. Those people earning less than $48,400 will get a tax cut of less than $400. Those earning more than $700,000 will get an average cut of $215,000 per year.

The fable that Republicans have told us since Reagan — that cutting taxes for the wealthy trickles down and helps the little guy, too, has been proven false. In reality, those tax cuts redistribute wealth and benefits from poorer to wealthier folks. The American public cannot let themselves be suckered, again, into adding trillions to the debt so that even more wealth can flow to the wealthiest.

Stephanie Allemann, Rangeley