Donald Trump has made at least a dozen tax cut promises. Can he keep any of them?

It was at a campaign stop Sunday night when Donald Trump used a high-profile stage to unveil perhaps one of his final promises of the campaign.

"I am announcing a new policy today that I will support a tax credit for family caregivers who take care of a parent or a loved one," he told a cheering crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The proposal was, by Yahoo Finance's count, at least the 12th distinct tax cut promise Trump has made in recent months. The dizzying array of pledges include his calls for fully extending his 2017 tax cuts with modifications and an array of add-ons such as eliminating taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits.

The family caregiver focus on Sunday night from Trump is an echo of a long-term care plan that Kamala Harris unveiled earlier this month. And beyond that, the former president's ideas expand into ones that would upend the IRS entirely.

In a recent podcast appearance with Joe Rogan, Trump doubled down on an idea he has toyed with for months to eliminate income taxes entirely because, in his view, tariffs will bring in so much revenue.

New York, New York - October 27: Former president Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Oct. 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

(Photo by Peter W. Stevenson /The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Oct. 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (Peter W. Stevenson /The Washington Post via Getty Images) · The Washington Post via Getty Images

"Did you just float out the idea of getting rid of income taxes and replacing it with tariffs? Are we serious about that?" the podcast host asked Trump.

"Yeah, sure," Trump responded. "Why not?"

Economists say Trump’s math doesn’t add up with tariffs currently contributing less than 2% of federal revenue and the idea seen as unlikely to gain traction outside of the ultraconservative side of the Republican caucus on Capitol Hill.

And what Trump also hasn't offered among his dozen promises — outside of sky high promises about the revenue he would bring in from tariffs and oil drilling — are ways to pay for them.

The closest thing to a total tab comes from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB). It finds that Trump's tax promises could cost over $9 trillion in the next decade.

But that tally doesn't include the idea of eliminating income taxes entirely — not to mention the caregiver credit or other recent plans to make car loan interest fully deductible or another recently promised cut cut for Americans who live abroad.

Harris, of course, has her own tax cut ideas, but the sheer scale of Trump's promises are notable.

Trump is also promising one significant tax hike (though he'd never call it that) in the form of those tariffs that experts say could add thousands to US family budgets. Tariffs are taxes that are paid by importers at US points of entry, with the additional costs often passed on to consumers.