Americans may qualify for a $5,000 payment from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) following a concept shared on social media which received backing from President Donald Trump.
Trump has assigned the tech mogul and DOGE with the task of reducing federal expenditures.
The proposal for DOGE stimulus checks was put forward by James Fishback, founder of investment firm Azoria Partners, back in February. Fishback indicated that if Musk succeeds in achieving $2 trillion in spending cuts by next year, 20 percent of those savings could be returned to taxpayers in the form of checks around $5,000 each.
“President Trump and @ElonMusk should introduce a ‘DOGE Dividend’—a tax refund check for every taxpayer, funded solely by a portion of the total savings realized by DOGE,” Fishback shared on X.
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Fishback contended that these checks would “compensate American taxpayers for the gross misuse and abuse of their hard-earned tax dollars that DOGE has revealed.”
Both Trump and Musk have expressed support for the initiative, yet doubts linger regarding its practical implementation.
Since the original proposal emerged last month, Musk has adjusted his spending cut goal from $2 trillion to $1 trillion, significantly lowering the potential check amount from the initial estimate of $5,000 proposed by Fishback.
Budget analysts suggest that achieving such extensive savings is quite improbable. Economists also caution that distributing checks—similar to the COVID stimulus payments offered by Trump and former President Joe Biden during the pandemic—might trigger inflation.
The annual budget deficit was projected to be $1.8 trillion in 2024, increasing the likelihood that any savings would be directed toward reducing that deficit instead of distributing any portion to taxpayers.
DOGE claims to have saved the federal government $115 billion to date, but critics have pointed out inaccuracies and overstated figures from the agency.
Americans shouldn’t anticipate receiving any checks from DOGE in the immediate future. According to Fishback’s suggestion, DOGE needs to complete its tasks before any checks can be issued, which is not expected to occur until July 2026.
Once this happens, 20 percent of any savings could be allocated to the roughly 79 million households that pay income taxes. Notably, about 40 percent of Americans do not pay income taxes, making them ineligible for a check.
