(NewsNation) — Even though the Trump administration has weighed the option, the possibility of taxpayers getting a stimulus check from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency remains uncertain.
President Donald Trump’s campaign has reportedly teased the idea of the checks in a funding email to supporters, according to MeidasTouch Network’s Archive of Political Emails.
Here is what you need to know about a potential DOGE check.
What is the DOGE stimulus check?
Trump has previously endorsed the idea of sending 20% of DOGE’s savings back to taxpayers as a “DOGE dividend” in the form of $5,000 stimulus checks.
In its efforts to cut waste, fraud and abuse from the federal government, DOGE has a savings goal of $2 trillion. So far, DOGE claims it has saved an estimated $160 billion, which is equal to about $993.79 per taxpayer.
However, critics of DOGE have claimed that the agency’s savings are much less than that.
Who would qualify for the DOGE stimulus checks?
Any potential stimulus check would only be sent to households that are net-income taxpayers, meaning they pay more in taxes than they get back. Lower-income Americans may not be able to qualify for the stimulus checks.
The checks would only be issued per household rather than each individual taxpayer, including those receiving Social Security benefits that meet the income tax requirements.
As NewsNation reported, there are about 40% of households in the country did not pay federal income taxes in 2022. This is normally due to a limited or a lack of income.
Are stimulus checks from DOGE likely?
In April, during a speech in Wisconsin, Musk had said these checks are “somewhat up to the Congress and maybe the president as to whether specific checks are cut.”
The CEO of Azoria, James Fishback, has been credited with creating the idea of sending out these checks. Fishback told Chris Cuomo that it would be “totally reasonable” and motivate citizens to report any wasteful spending they find to DOGE.
Some, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., have spoken out against these checks.
“But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives,” Johnson said, according to The Hill. “That’s our brand. And we have a $36 trillion federal debt, we have a giant deficit that we’re contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?”
Preston Brashers, a tax policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, warned that these checks would lead to inflation returning “with a vengeance.”
Fishback argued that if the checks are “deficit-financed” and funded by “DOGE-driven savings,” they would not be inflationary.