In potentially very big news for American taxpayers, President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, February 19 that he is considering returning a whopping 20% of the DOGE savings secured by Elon Musk as a payout to American taxpayers who are, understandably, quite frustrated with what the Biden Regime and previous governments were spending their hard-earned dollars on.
Such is what the president said in a speech delivered at Miami Beach to a non-profit funded by the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. The president framed the idea as one that would help Americans make ends meet after struggling for years with the ravages of high-inflation, a problem exacerbated by reckless federal spending.
Commenting on the idea, Trump said that a fifth of the DOGE savings would return to taxpayers and an equal amount would be used to pay down the national debt. He said, “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.”
Continuing, he noted that the amount of money it appears Elon is saving is “incredible” and that there are “hundreds of billions” in savings that could be secured. He said, “The numbers are incredible, Elon, so many billions — hundreds of billions — and we’re thinking about giving 20% back to the American citizens.”
Trump’s comments followed DOGE’s Elon Musk saying on his X (formerly Twitter) social media platform that he would “check with the president” about the idea of a DOGE dividend. That came in a response to a post from James Fishback about the idea. He said, “President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’—a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE.”
Fishback, in a more fleshed-out policy statement attached to that tweet, said, “Few in America knew precisely what to expect from DOGE. The early perceived turbulence around leadership, the uncertainty around legal structure, and the lack of precedent for such a bold initiative created a sense of “show me” with DOGE.”
Continuing, he added, “Just a month into President Trump’s second term, DOGE is delivering. Full stop. With DOGE reportedly achieving $1 billion in savings per day, President Trump has an opportunity to work with Congress to take DOGE one step further and deliver what we at Azoriacall the “DOGE Dividend,” a tax refund check to be sent after the expiration of DOGE in July 2026 funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE.”
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Explaining the full idea, he said, “Here’s how President Trump’s DOGE Dividend works: 1. DOGE is targeting $2 trillion in total savings. 2. Take 20% of DOGE’s total savings ($400 billion) and return it to the ~79 million U.S. households that will be net payers of federal income tax in CY 2025 as a tax-refund check called the “DOGE Dividend.” 3. $400 billion in DOGE-driven savings *divided by* 79 million tax-paying households =$5,000 “DOGE Dividend” check per tax-paying household.”
Later on, the statement noted that the idea could even help bring more taxpayers into the fold, saying, “The conditional nature of the tax refund (available only to payers of federal income tax in CY 2025) incentivizes labor force participation because only net payers of federal income tax in CY 2025 are eligible to receive President Trump’s ‘DOGE Dividend.'”
Watch Trump comment on the idea here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video