Trump makes bombshell decision on ‘DOGE dividend’ – here’s how much every taxpayer could receive

President Trump is considering Elon Musk’s pitch to give American taxpayers a ‘DOGE dividend’ amid ongoing efforts to claw back billions of dollars of wasteful spending.

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has taken an axe to government departments with an edict to do whatever it takes to root out waste and fraud.

On Tuesday, the billionaire Tesla founder and ‘First Buddy’ vowed to ‘check with the president’ after investment firm CEO James Fishback suggested giving taxpayers a slice of the savings in the form of a tax refund.

Now, President Trump has revealed he has heard the proposal and is weighing its benefits.

Speaking from Miami Beach, President Trump said: ‘There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 per cent of the DOGE savings to American citizens.’

He said another 20 per cent would go toward ‘paying down debt.’

‘The numbers are incredible, Elon, so many billions – hundreds of billions – and we’re thinking about giving 20% back to the American citizens,’ he added.

If it goes ahead, the policy has the potential to put thousands of dollars back into the pockets of taxpayers at a time when rising costs are making it increasingly difficult for middle Americans to stay afloat.

 ‘If you look at value, if it were real estate, the balance sheet debt is tiny but we still want to pay it down.’

Trump said the initiative could encourage Americans to ‘report where there’s waste. They’ll be reporting it themselves and participate in the process of saving money.’

DOGE revealed Tuesday that President Trump has saved taxpayers a staggering $55 billion in less than a month. 

The bulk of the savings were reportedly found through a combination of detecting and deleting fraud, canceling contracts and leases, and selling assets.

In response to the achievement, Fishback wrote on X: ‘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.’

Musk responded, assuring Fishback he would ‘check with the President.’ 

Fishback added: ‘American taxpayers deserve a ‘DOGE Dividend’: 20% the money that DOGE saves should be sent back to hard-working Americans as a tax refund check.’ 

‘It was their money in the first place! At $2 trillion in DOGE savings and 78 million tax-paying households, this is a $5,000 refund per household, with the remaining used to pay down the national debt. Elon Musk, let’s do this! This is how we rebuild trust in our government.’

DOGE’s ‘nerd army’ has embarked on a huge task of ending grants, firing federal employees, and changing programs, all with a goal of saving money through reform.

‘DOGE’s total estimated savings are $55 billion,’ read a message on the official doge.gov website, citing data since February 17. 

It said users of the website could expect updates twice a week, promising additional information and improvements with time.

The savings were mostly made in the US Agency For International Development (USAID), the Department of Education, the Office of Personnel Management, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Agriculture. 

Savings listed on the website features millions of dollars in canceled contracts for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training as well as ending subscriptions for Politico and other news organizations.

Elon Musk and DOGE’s efforts to reduce government waste continue to capture the headlines as Democrats and government workers are protesting in the streets about the cuts.

Trump has defended Musk’s efforts, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that they talk frequently about the efforts by Democrats and the media to drive them apart.

‘It’s obvious, they’re so bad at it. I used to think they were good at it but they’re bad at it, because if they were good I wouldn’t be president,’ he said.

Democrat protesters claim Musk is an unelected oligarch who should not be trusted to access data from the federal government. 

On Monday, the White House clarified in court papers that Musk’s title was ‘senior adviser to the president’ and that he is ‘not the U.S. DOGE Service Administrator.’ 

‘In his role as senior adviser to the president, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisers,’ the court filing noted, adding that he had ‘no actual or formal authority’ to make government decisions by himself.

Trump has endorsed Musk’s work as a result of his election mandate to cut government spending and reduce the federal workforce.

‘We got elected to, among other things, find all of this fraud, abuse, all of this horrible stuff going on,’ he said in the Oval Office last week.