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Trump says he’s weighing giving 20% of DOGE savings to Americans

U.S. President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that he’s considering sending 20% of the money saved by the Department of Government Efficiency advisory group to Americans.

“There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt,” Trump said during his remarks at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Fla.

His remarks came after Elon Musk said in a post on X Tuesday that he “Will check with the President” on a proposal to send U.S. households tax refund checks funded by savings created by DOGE’s cost-cutting campaign.

That was in response to a separate post from James Fishback, CEO of the Azoria investment firm, suggesting that Trump has the opportunity to issue a so-called DOGE Dividend.

Musk has said that his goal is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion, out of a $6.75 trillion annual budget in the latest fiscal year ended last Sept. 30. If that were met, Fishback suggests taking 20% of that, or $400 billion, and distributing it to taxpayers. That would amount to approximately $5,000 per household, he said.

“When a breach of this magnitude happens in the private sector, the counterparty, at minimum, refunds the customer since they failed to deliver what was promised,” Fishback wrote in his proposal. “It’s high time for the federal government to do the same, and refund money back to taxpayers given what DOGE has uncovered.”

Government stimulus checks mailed to millions of taxpayers in 2020 during the Covid pandemic bore Trump’s signature, the first time a president’s name appeared on any IRS payments, The Associated Press reported at the time.

According to DOGE, it has saved an estimated $55 billion through its efforts. However, recent reports suggest that the actual figure is likely far below that.

Earlier Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the DOGE website only accounts for $16.6 billion of the $55 billion it claims to have saved. Additionally, The New York Times said on Tuesday that DOGE mistakenly cited an $8 billion saving on a federal contract that was actually for $8 million instead.

Meanwhile, many of DOGE’s efforts have been met with court challenges. But a federal judge on Tuesday denied a request to stop DOGE from accessing federal agencies’ computer systems or directing government worker firings while litigation is ongoing.

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Donald Trump says DOGE savings to make it back to taxpayers: Who stands to gain and how much?

After Elon Musk said he would pass on the suggestion for a ‘DOGE Divident’ to Americans, US President Donald Trump has now claimed that taxpayers could get a cut of the federal savings. On February 18, DOGE chief Elon Musk responded to proposal on social media saying: “Will check with the President.”

Then, on February 19, while addressing an investment summit in Florida, Donald Trump said, “There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 per cent of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20 per cent goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible.”

Thus, with the big names mulling the move. We take a look at who could benefit from this decision and by how much.

As per the proposal put forward by James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria and reportedly an outside adviser to DOGE, a “tax refund check” worth about $5,000 can be sent to “tax paying” American households after the expiration of DOGE in July 2026.

Fishback claimed the rebate could be covered with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE, which Elon Musk has estimated will reach $2 trillion. The number was difficult to confirm, and when Musk was questioned about it, he retracted the estimate.

Notably, Fishback’s proposal accounts 20 per cent of DOGE’s targeted $2 trillion in savings to be returned to “the ~79 million tax-paying households,” which the CEO said would result in approximately a $5,000 return per household.

Further, Elon Musk’s engagement with the proposal escalated speculation over the possibility of around 79 million Americans getting cheques worth $5,000 from DOGE’s claimed savings for the federal government. DOGE has so far claimed to have saved $55 billion “which is a combination of fraud detection / deletion, contract / lease cancellations, contract / lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings.”

Last updated on February 17, the website states that DOGE is working on uploading “all this data” in a “digestible and fully transparent manner.” However, while DOGE has claimed $55 billion of federal savings, reports by the New York Times and Washington Post note discrepancies in the data published and the numbers claimed.

While Fishback in his post claimed “79 million Americans” and “American households” would be beneficiaries. Donald Trump in his statement mentioned “American citizens”. Most likely all American taxpayers could expect a $5,000 cheque if the move comes to fruition.

However, US Budget experts have cautioned that a “rebate” is unlikely without Congress’ approval, according to a Politico report. The experts also warned that many lawmakers would rather use that money in other ways — like cutting national debt or paying for Donald Trump’s tax extensions.

F Stevens Redburn, a public policy lecturer at George Washington University and a former official of both the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congressional Budget Office (CBO), said any decision would pass through the two offices and the US Treasury before action is taken.

He also pointed to the questions and lawsuits over the legality of DOGE, suggesting that DOGE itself could be shut down if the judge rules against it.

The idea of sending cheques to taxpayers is not wholly impossible. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump sent government stimulus cheques to millions of eligible Americans. Later, Joe Biden did the same.

But now that there is an informal discussion of disbursing DOGE’s “targeted” monies to Americans, the feasibility of sending cheques from savings not yet made remains to be seen.

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After Elon Musk said he would pass on the suggestion for a ‘DOGE Dividend’ to Americans, US President Donald has now claimed that taxpayers could get a cut of the federal savings. We take a look at who could benefit from this and by how much.

DOGE Savings Rebate for American Taxpayers?

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Who Will Benefit from DOGE Dividends?

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Musk weighs a ‘DOGE dividend’ to send Americans checks using saved funds

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk join ‘Hannity’ to discuss criticism of DOGE and whether the country is facing a ‘constitutional crisis.’

Elon Musk expressed interest in a proposal to use savings from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to give taxpayers a “DOGE dividend” payment.

X user James Fishback wrote a post that tagged Musk and outlined his plan to take 20% of the savings found by DOGE to send it back “to hard-working Americans as a tax refund check. It was their money in the first place!”

Fishback noted that if DOGE achieves its goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending, that would provide the 78 million taxpaying households in the U.S. with about a $5,000 refund or “DOGE dividend” per household, with the remainder used to pay down the national debt.

“Will check with the President,” Musk replied in response to Fishback’s post.

SAVING US TAXPAYER MONEY COMES DOWN TO TWO KEY THINGS, ELON MUSK TELLS HANNITY

Elon Musk took note of a proposal to create a “DOGE dividend” using saved funds. (Marc Piasecki/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Although DOGE has set a high-end goal of $2 trillion in savings, Musk has suggested that $1 trillion in savings would be a success and explained that goal in an appearance with President Donald Trump on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Tuesday night.

“The overall goal is to try to get a trillion dollars out of the deficit,” Musk said. “If the deficit is not brought under control, America will go bankrupt.”

“This is a very important thing for people to understand. A country is no different from an individual, in that if an individual overspends, an individual can go bankrupt. And so can a country,” he said. “And the massive waste, fraud and abuse that has been going on, which is leading to a $2 trillion a year deficit.”

MUSK’S DOGE LAUNCHES AGENCY ACCOUNTS TO SOLICIT COST SAVINGS TIPS FROM THE PUBLIC

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk discuss taxes and federal spending during their joint “Hannity” interview. (Fox News Channel / Fox News)

DOGE claims an estimated $55 billion in savings achieved to date from canceling certain federal leases and contracts, asset sales, fraud deletion, regulatory savings and workforce reductions.

While Musk appeared open to the idea of a DOGE dividend on Tuesday night, he said on Wednesday morning that balancing the budget should be the focus given DOGE’s efforts.

Musk wrote in a post on Wednesday, “We need to balance the budget as first priority,” in a response to a post by Scott Adams that raised concerns the DOGE dividend could result in the government using the DOGE savings as a “piggy bank.”

DOGE is looking to cut waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

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The federal government ran a more than $1.8 trillion budget deficit in fiscal year 2024, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

It’s expected to grow above $2 trillion annually in the years ahead according to the CBO’s projections, leaving DOGE and the Trump administration with a significant gap to close if they intend to balance the budget.

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