In a recent speech, President Donald Trump revealed that he is considering implementing an economic stimulus plan through what some call the “DOGE dividend”: $5,000 checks funded by savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.
The initiative, initially proposed by the CEO of Azoria, James Fishback, seeks to allocate 20% of these funds to taxpayers and another 20% to reduce the national debt. But how could this plan be implemented and who could qualify to receive this juicy one-time check of up to $5,000 (according to some calculations)?
Musk and Trump coordinate possible distribution of funds: DOGE saves billions from taxpayers
The context is that Fishback proposed on platform Elon Musk responded: “I’ll check with the president.” Trump highlighted in his speech that the “savings identified” by the DOGE would allow resources to be returned to citizens, although he did not specify deadlines or execution mechanisms.
According to the Treasury Department, federal debt increased by $1.4 trillion in the last fiscal year, raising the debt-to-GDP ratio by two percentage points. Trump linked this scenario to the urgency of measures such as the “DOGE dividend“, which—according to Fishback—would avoid inflationary effects by not depending on deficits, unlike the 2020-2021 pandemic checks.
Am I eligible to receive $5,000 DOGE dividend?
To date, neither President Trump nor Elon Musk have shared more details of how the distribution of these stimulus checks that are already echoing in the heads of millions of American households could be articulated, and some may already imagine what they are going to invest that money in: paying debts, home improvements, vacations, a new car…
The proposal suggests sending checks only to households with incomes above a certain threshold and who are “net taxpayers.” This would exclude beneficiaries of previous aid, focusing the stimulus on the upper-middle classes. “They would have a greater propensity to save, not to immediate spending,” argued the executive, contrasting it with the “indiscriminate” payments during the pandemic.
Experts question the transparency of the DOGE and the feasibility of reallocating $2 billion annually in savings—the entity’s official goal—to finance the dividend. Additionally, the Trump administration faces a lawsuit for demanding data from the New York DMV on undocumented immigrants, a move linked to its fiscal tightening agenda.
The DOGE, created in 2023 as a Temporary DOGE Service Organization, aims to cut public spending and modernize government technology. Musk, designated a “special government employee,” is leading massive layoffs and reductions at agencies like USAID, Education and NIH. The entity claims to have saved $55 billion, although without external audits to verify the figure.
For now, the Treasury has not confirmed whether it will technically support the plan, whose fate depends on complex legislative and budgetary processes. If this support happens in the near future, we will bring you more information about it so that you can start processing your DOGE dividend, if you qualify.
