Citizens Get $5K refund check from DOGE. Musk Says, Must Get OK From Trump!

[army judge]

One user on X — the social media platform owned by Elon Musk — has proposed the government send every taxpaying American household $5,000 following White House cuts in federal spending.

Photo by: Alex Brandon/AP
President Donald Trump listens as Elon Musk speaks in the Oval Office at the White House.

By: Gage Jackson
Posted 1 hour and 5 minutes ago

and last updated 1 hour and 1 minutes ago
Billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is the de facto leader of the newly established U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, is now weighing whether American taxpayers should get refund checks following extensive cuts in federal spending.

In a post on Musk's social media platform X, one user proposed that Musk and President Donald Trump should announce a $5,000 "DOGE Dividend" payment to taxpayers due to the recent "savings delivered by DOGE."

"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... 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," James Fishback, CEO of Azoria investment firm, said in his request.

"DOGE is targeting $2 trillion in total savings. 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 [calendar year] 2025 as a tax-refund check called the 'DOGE Dividend'," Fishback added. "$400 billion in DOGE-driven savings *divided by* 79 million tax-paying households = $5,000 'DOGE Dividend' check per tax-paying household."

Musk replied to the request, stating, "Will check with the President."

The Trump administration created DOGE without congressional approval to reduce what it described as wasteful government spending, leading to the termination of thousands of federal employees across multiple agencies. The administration maintains Musk's efforts are making the government more efficient.

RELATED STORY | Thousands of IRS employees may soon lose their jobs as part of Trump's cuts

It remains to be seen whether DOGE — at the directive of Musk — has actually increased the productivity of the federal government. However, he claims the department's initiatives have saved billions of dollars in taxpayer money.

In the meantime, multiple legal actions have been taken against DOGE and the Trump administration, seeking to stop the layoffs of thousands of federal workers and to prevent Musk and his team from accessing the sensitive private data of millions of Americans — all things a federal judge ruled against on Monday.

Are taxpayers getting a refund check from DOGE? Musk says he'll check with Trump

Elon Musk — defacto leader of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency — is now weighing whether American taxpayers should get $5,000 refund checks following extensive cuts in federal spending.

www.kxxv.com

 

[Tax Counsel]

It looks like the President's team may have finally drilled it into Musk's head that he doesn't have any authority to authorize things on his own and needs to make the suggestions/recommendations to Trump instead. If so, that's a step in the right direction in calming the chaos that Trump and Musk have created over the last month. Trump would have to go Congress to authorize the refunds, as the citizen who made the suggestion correctly noted.

The problem is that while everyone getting a $5,000 check by shoveling out the money that the DOGE effort ends saving (and it's too early to have a good sense of just how much that will be) back to taxpayers doesn't accomplish what Republicans keep saying they want: elimination of the annual budget deficit and starting to pay down the huge national debt. I'm on board with going to a balanced budget policy but kicking all the money saved and spending it on refunds doesn't reduce the annual deficit. That just becomes part of the smoke and mirrors used by the administration to try to fool the public into thinking something serious has been done to reduce the deficit while buying votes with cash.

 

[welkin]

It looks like the President's team may have finally drilled it into Musk's head that he doesn't have any authority to authorize things on his own and needs to make the suggestions/recommendations to Trump instead.

That's one way of looking at if you want to push the media narrative. But it's not true.

From the EO that created DOGE to the hiring of Musk, Musk was already hired as a special government employee who serves as a "Senior Advisor to the President" whether or not DOGE was created. Musk always knew that he could not act on his own like any other senior advisor to the president. To say otherwise is false.

 

[Mark_A]

It looks like the President's team may have finally drilled it into Musk's head that he doesn't have any authority to authorize things on his own and needs to make the suggestions/recommendations to Trump instead.

The idea that Elon Musk ever thought he the authority to refund fraud, waste, and abuse to the American public via a direct payment to citizens is so bizarre and so ridiculous that it is mind boggling that anyone would make that claim about Musk. I am not 100% sure, but I don't even think Trump can do that without Congressional approval.

However, given that Joe Biden illegally (according to SCOTUS) cancelled $188.8 billion in student debt without the approval of Congress (not once, but twice, the second time after SCOTUS ruled against him), I am not sure of anything anymore.

 

[Mark_A]

The problem is that while everyone getting a $5,000 check by shoveling out the money that the DOGE effort ends saving (and it's too early to have a good sense of just how much that will be) back to taxpayers doesn't accomplish what Republicans keep saying they want: elimination of the annual budget deficit and starting to pay down the huge national debt. I'm on board with going to a balanced budget policy but kicking all the money saved and spending it on refunds doesn't reduce the annual deficit. That just becomes part of the smoke and mirrors used by the administration to try to fool the public into thinking something serious has been done to reduce the deficit while buying votes with cash.

Some good points, but not entirely accurate. Trump said there is a suggestion refund 20% of the savings to citizens, not all of it. I assume that such payments to citizens requires Congressional approval.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Musk always knew that he could not act on his own like any other senior advisor to the president. To say otherwise is false.

Until very recently Musk didn't act at all like someone who knew he lacked authority to do things on his own. Maybe it was just his big ego getting in the way of saying the right thing?

In any event he did do some things that Trump did not approve of and Trump's team had a discussion with Musk about what he can — and can't — do. Good for the President to rein in Musk a bit, not so good for the president's staff to have apparently not explained the rules of positions like his before he went off making all kinds of grand pronouncements.

 

[Tax Counsel]

I assume that such payments to citizens requires Congressional approval.

Correct, it would have to pass Congress first before Trump can sign off on it and implement it.

 

[stealthy1]

Correct, it would have to pass Congress first before Trump can sign off on it and implement it.

I'm not holding my breath.