What is DOGE dividend check? Who qualifies for $5,000 stimulus check? Here's what to know
Wondering if or when to expect a $5,000 dividend check from DOGE? Here's an update on what to know about the status of the stimulus and who would potentially qualify to receive it.
President Donald Trump said he would consider the plan to pay out $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers in the form of a 'DOGE dividend' during a recent speech. He explained it as a part to take 20% of the savings identified by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and give it back to the American taxpayers.
This 'DOGE dividend' idea was originally floated by Azoria investment firm CEO James Fishback on Musk's social media platform X, suggesting Trump and Musk "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." To which, Musk replied "Will check with the President."
“The numbers are incredible, Elon. So many millions, billions — hundreds of billions,” Trump said in his speech. “And we’re thinking about giving 20% back to the American citizens, and 20% down to pay back our debt.”
In a recent interview with NewsNation, Fishback said he was "optimistic a bill is forthcoming to put President Trump's vision for DOGE coming full circle into law." Adding, "It isn't just enough … to identify waste, fraud and abuse. We have to refund the taxpayer their hard-earned money when their money was wasted and misused, and that's what the DOGE dividend calls for."
Fishback described meetings with lawmakers in the House and Senate as "very productive" and said a plan may be revealed soon.
Trump hasn't shared any further specifics or details about the possible 'DOGE dividend' or its certainty.
Fishback's four-page proposal of the 'DOGE dividend' described it as a refund "sent only to tax-paying householders." Noting the difference from past stimulus checks, he added that DOGE checks would not be inflationary as they would be "exclusively funded with DOGE-driven savings, unlike COVID stimulus checks which were deficit-financed."
Fishback's proposal would send dividends only to households above a certain income level as opposed to pandemic-era checks that were sent “indiscriminately.”
“A lot of low-income households essentially saw transfer payments of 25 to 30% of their annual … income,” Fishback said of the pandemic stimulus checks, adding, “This exclusively goes to households that are net-payers of federal income tax, and what that means is that they have a lower propensity to spend and a higher propensity to save a transfer payment like the DOGE dividend.”
The potential refund would be sent only to households that are net-income taxpayers — people who pay more in taxes than they get back — with lower-income Americans not qualifying for the return, according to news reports. The Pew Research Center cites most Americans who have an adjusted gross income of under $40,000 pay effectively no federal income tax.
"I'm honored to have the president's support, but the plan is very simple," Fishback said last week, according to news source. "DOGE is going to save X amount of money over the next couple of years. Let's take 20 percent of that and send it right back to the hard-working taxpayers who sent it to D.C. in the first place."
By definition, a dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders and refund is a payment made back to a user that previously paid for something. A stimulus check on the other hand, is a direct payment to encourage spending and stimulate the economy by putting money directly into the consumers' hand.
What is DOGE?
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), officially the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, is an initiative created by Trump and spearheaded by 'special government employee' Musk.
The mission of DOGE was to slash federal spending, deregulation and "modernize federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity."
At the time it was introduced, DOGE's effort was to save as much as $2 trillion a year. DOGE claims to have already saved $105 billion.
Maria Francis is a Pennsylvania-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team.