Curious about the potential $5,000 check from DOGE? Is it a stimulus, a dividend, or a refund? Here’s what we currently know regarding its nature and who might receive it.
During a speech on Wednesday, President Donald Trump floated the idea of issuing $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers, characterizing it as a ‘DOGE dividend.’ He explained that this would involve returning 20% of the savings identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to American taxpayers.
This concept of a ‘DOGE dividend’ was initially proposed on Tuesday by James Fishback, the CEO of the Azoria investment firm, on Musk’s platform X. He suggested that Trump and Musk announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’ — a tax refund directed to every taxpayer, funded solely by a portion of the overall savings generated by DOGE. Musk responded, saying he would “check with the President.”
“The numbers are incredible, Elon. So many millions, billions — hundreds of billions,” Trump stated in his address. “And we’re contemplating giving back 20% to the American populace, and 20% allocated to address our debt.”
According to the Treasury Department, the U.S. national debt reached $35.5 trillion in the fiscal year 2024, marking a $1.4 trillion increase from 2023. Additionally, the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio grew by 2 percentage points in fiscal year 2024 compared to 2023.
Trump did not provide additional details or guarantees about the proposed ‘DOGE dividend.’
However, Fishback’s four-page proposal outlined the ‘DOGE dividend’ as a refund available “only to tax-paying households.” He differentiated it from past stimulus checks, asserting that DOGE checks would not be inflationary as they would be “entirely funded by DOGE-driven savings, in contrast to COVID stimulus checks which were financed through deficit spending.”
In financial terminology, a dividend refers to a distribution of profits by a corporation to shareholders. A refund is a repayment made to a user who has previously made a payment for something. Conversely, a stimulus check constitutes a direct payment aimed at encouraging spending and stimulating the economy by putting cash directly into consumers’ hands.
What is DOGE?
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formally known as the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, is an initiative instigated by Trump and spearheaded by ‘special government employee’ Musk.
DOGE’s mission was to reduce federal expenditures, facilitate deregulation, and “modernize federal technology and software to optimize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
How much has DOGE saved?
Upon its establishment, DOGE aimed to save up to $2 trillion annually. Although DOGE claims to have already saved $55 billion through government cuts, this figure remains unverified.
The agency has implemented significant reductions across federal agencies, including mass layoffs of federal personnel. Some of the agencies affected by the cuts include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Maria Francis is a journalist based in Pennsylvania with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
