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Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Money, US News, Technology
Mia Williams
Topics: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Money, US News, Technology
Donald Trump, alongside Elon Musk, has proposed the idea of 'DOGE dividends' - which could see US citizens become thousands richer.
Before his presidency even began, Trump called in the tech CEO to front his newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk has been tasked with cutting federal spending as part of his job, but US taxpayers could be set to claim thousands of dollars as a result of the initiative.
On Wednesday (19 February), Trump floated the idea of giving 20 percent of all Musk's savings to the tax payer - a move which will inevitably be quite popular.
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During his speech, the president said: "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.
"The numbers are incredible, Elon, so many billions - hundreds of billions - and we’re thinking about giving 20 percent back to the American citizens."
James Fishback, a US investor, came up with the concept and has been advocating for tax payers to benefit from the cuts.
Musk noted that he would 'check with the President' in an X response on Tuesday.
So far, it's unclear exactly how much money has been saved as a result of DOGE.
The Tesla founder has set an ambitious goal of $1 trillion in annual cost cuts, and has devised a team of 100 people who are working to make it happen.
The way they plan to make the cuts is by closing down some agencies, firing a mass amount of employees that they believe are unnecessary, and canceling contracts that they deem wasteful.
So far, Musk's department has stopped the $50 billion-a-year USAID foreign aid agency, and is in the process of getting rid of all 10,000 employees.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has $712 million, is also being dismantled by Musk.
In a more controversial move, the billionaire has also halted the $373 million in Education Department grants for funding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training sessions.
The original advocate for the concept, Fishback, has suggested that $2 trillion in savings over two years would roughly equate to $25,000 per taxpayer.
The 20 percent dividends proposed by Trump would mean that the tax payer would receive $5,000 per year.
However, instead of handing out the cash, Musk has proposed that the savings could be received in the form of a tax cut.
Posting on X, he wrote: "More savings would mean a bigger tax reduction! The top DOGE priority remains however reducing the deficit to stop inflation and lower people’s interest rates."