Curious about the possibility of receiving a $5,000 dividend check from DOGE? Here’s an update on the current status of the stimulus and the potential eligibility criteria for recipients.
During a recent speech, President Donald Trump mentioned he would consider the proposal to distribute $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers as a ‘DOGE dividend.’ He elaborated that this initiative would involve allocating 20% of the savings identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) back to American taxpayers.
The concept of the ‘DOGE dividend’ was initially proposed by James Fishback, CEO of the Azoria investment firm, on Musk’s social media platform X. He suggested that Trump and Musk “should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’ — a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded solely by a fraction of the total savings generated by DOGE.” Musk responded by saying, “Will check with the President.”
“The numbers are astounding, Elon. So many millions, billions — hundreds of billions,” Trump stated in his speech. “We are considering giving 20% back to American citizens, and 20% allocated for paying down our debt.”
In an interview with NewsNation, Fishback expressed optimism about a forthcoming bill that would bring President Trump’s vision for DOGE to fruition. He remarked, “It isn’t sufficient… to identify waste, fraud, and abuse. We need to return the taxpayer’s hard-earned money when it has been wasted and misused, which is exactly what the DOGE dividend aims to achieve.”
Fishback characterized his discussions with lawmakers in both the House and Senate as “very productive,” indicating that details of a plan may be announced soon.
Trump has yet to provide further specifics or confirm the likelihood of the proposed ‘DOGE dividend.’
Fishback’s four-page proposal for the ‘DOGE dividend’ specifies that it would be a refund “sent only to tax-paying households.” He highlighted that, in contrast to prior stimulus checks, DOGE checks would not contribute to inflation as they would be “solely financed through DOGE-driven savings, unlike the COVID stimulus checks which were funded by deficit spending.”
According to Fishback’s proposal, dividends would only be issued to households with incomes above a specific threshold, unlike the pandemic-era checks that were distributed “indiscriminately.”
“Many low-income households received transfer payments amounting to 25 to 30% of their annual… income,” Fishback noted regarding pandemic stimulus checks, adding, “This would solely benefit households that are net-payers of federal income tax, which means they tend to save transfer payments like the DOGE dividend rather than spend it.”
The proposed refund would only go to households that are net-income taxpayers — individuals who contribute more in taxes than they receive — meaning lower-income Americans would not be eligible, as reported. The Pew Research Center indicates that most Americans with an adjusted gross income below $40,000 effectively pay no federal income tax.
“I’m honored to have the president’s backing, but the plan is quite straightforward,” Fishback asserted last week, according to news sources. “DOGE is going to save a certain amount of money over the next few years. Let’s return 20 percent of that directly to the hardworking taxpayers who contributed it to D.C. in the first place.”
By definition, a dividend is a profit distribution by a corporation to its shareholders, while a refund entails a reimbursement to a user who has made a prior payment. Conversely, a stimulus check is a direct payment meant to boost spending and stimulate the economy by allocating funds directly to consumers.
What is DOGE?
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formally known as the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, is an initiative launched by Trump and led by ‘special government employee’ Musk.
DOGE’s mission encompasses reducing federal spending, deregulation, and “modernizing federal technology and software to enhance governmental efficiency and productivity.”
At its inception, DOGE aimed to save as much as $2 trillion annually and claims to have already achieved $105 billion in savings.
Maria Francis is a journalist based in Pennsylvania, contributing to the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is DOGE dividend check and will you qualify for it? Important details to know.
