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By Martha McHardy
US News Reporter
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James Fishback, the CEO of investment firm Azoria who proposed the idea of the "DOGE dividend," said he is "optimistic" a bill is forthcoming to send checks to American taxpayers from savings generated by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Why It Matters
Under the plan, net-payers of federal income tax—individuals who pay more in taxes than they receive—would qualify. As Newsweek previously reported, this requirement would exclude most Americans earning under $40,000 per year, as they typically do not owe federal income taxes after deductions and credits.
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About 79 million households in the U.S. would receive $5,000 from the 20 percent of the $2 trillion DOGE plans to save by cutting spending.
Proponents argue that this could restore trust between taxpayers and the government, while critics warn of its potential economic impact, including inflation and national debt concerns.
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What To Know
"I am optimistic a bill is forthcoming to put President Trump's vision for DOGE coming full circle into law," Fishback said Monday in an interview with NewsNation. "It isn't just enough, Blake [Burman], 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 said he had "very productive" meetings last week with lawmakers in the House and Senate about a potential bill, adding that a plan will be revealed in the coming week.
The Azoria CEO first proposed the idea for DOGE stimulus checks in a post on X, formerly Twitter, last month.
"American taxpayers deserve a 'DOGE Dividend': 20% 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!" he wrote. "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. @ElonMusk let's do this! This is how we rebuild trust in our government."
DOGE head Elon Musk then responded to Fishback's proposal on X, saying: "Will check with the President."
President Donald Trump later added his support for the potential DOGE refund, saying in a speech in Miami in February that "there's even under consideration a new concept where we give 20 percent of the DOGE savings to American citizens. The numbers are incredible, Elon, so many millions, billions, hundreds of billions."
Defending the plan, Fishback argued that targeting net taxpayers would help reduce inflation risks.
"A lot of low-income households essentially saw transfer payments of 25 to 30 percent of their annual...income," he said, according to NBC. He added that DOGE payments should go "exclusively" to net taxpayers because "they have a lower propensity to spend and a higher propensity to save a transfer payment like the DOGE dividend."
The initiative has gained traction among some Democrats and some Republican lawmakers who view it as a way to curb government waste and inefficiency. However, others, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have raised concerns that any savings should be prioritized toward deficit reduction rather than direct payments to taxpayers.
"Politically, that would be great for us, you know, because everybody gets a check," Johnson said at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference. "But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. 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?"
Financial experts have warned that handing out DOGE checks could cause inflation.
"If you increase demand, without a subsequent increase in supply, inflation is the result," Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and economist at RIA Advisors, told Newsweek.
Roberts added that a tax credit would be more beneficial in helping taxpayers. Musk has emphasized that balancing the budget is DOGE's priority.
"We need to balance the budget as first priority," Musk posted in response to a claim that the DOGE dividend could result in the government using the DOGE savings as a "piggy bank."
Fishback, however, maintains that the initiative is a responsible way to return money to taxpayers, he told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo last week.
"I'm honored to have the president's support, but the plan is very simple," he said. "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."
Fishback previously told Newsweek that the idea for DOGE dividend checks emerged while he was sleeping.
"It came to me in a dream," he said. "I woke up and called our head of research at Azoria, and we drafted the proposal during a two-hour lunch at Capital Grille."
Fishback's proposal for the dividend links directly to his broader vision of a government that actively rewards its citizens for their vigilance against wasteful spending. In doing so, "...DOGE can save even more and as a result deliver an even bigger DOGE dividend check to hard-working Americans," he said.
What People Are Saying
James Fishback told News Nation: "It's time to refund the money. It's also time for the DOGE dividend to give an incentive to taxpayers to call out waste, fraud and abuse in the government and to get them on board with this government efficiency movement."
Lance Roberts, chief investment strategist and economist at RIA Advisors, told Newsweek: "If you increase demand, without a subsequent increase in supply, inflation is the result. A tax credit would be more beneficial in helping the bottom 50 percent of income tax payers that pay little or no taxes [they get a refund] but won't create as big of a demand surge."
What Happens Next
A plan for a bill for DOGE check is likely to be announced this week, according to Fishback. A timeline for when checks would be sent out remains unclear.
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