Featured Image Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Topics: US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Money
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Money
US taxpayers could be getting a hefty payout should Donald Trump go ahead with his proposed plans.
The Department of Government Efficiency (often referred to as DOGE) was created by the Trump administration last month.
The organization - which is working with SpaceX founder Elon Musk - was created to 'dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies' — and it's safe to say it's done just that.
Since its creation, DOGE has reportedly made $55 billion in government cuts.
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As per the DOGE website, this sum has been saved from 'a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancellations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancellations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings'.
In a recent update, DOGE said on Twitter that it had 'terminated 18 grants for $226mm to Comprehensive Centers', which is likely to have contributed to its $55 billion savings figure.
It's believed that Musk has set himself the challenge of trying to save $1 trillion in annual cost cuts for the country.
Speaking yesterday (February 19), President Trump said DOGE's savings pot is 'incredible'.
"The numbers are incredible, Elon, so many billions — hundreds of billions," he teased. He did not give an exact figure to back up the DOGE website's claims of having saved $55 billion, however.
Trump continued to say of what they might do with the dividends: "There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens and 20 percent goes to paying down debt."
Musk is said to have proposed the idea of giving $5,000 to every taxpaying American.
Dubbed the 'DOGE Dividend', the proposal was first put forward by James Fishback, CEO of investment firm Azoria, who has been acting as an outsider advisor for DOGE, says Forbes.
Tweeting the concept earlier this week, Fishback said: "American taxpayers deserve a ‘Doge Dividend’: 20 per cent of 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."
Musk went on to respond to the suggestion, saying he would 'check with the president'.
As for when Americans might get the check, part of the proposal shared on social media read: "79 million American households will receive a $5,000 check next summer because of President Trump’s bold leadership."