The money would have to come from somewhere else, likely other government programs.
SAN ANTONIO — Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has stated that American taxpaying households will get a $5,000 check from the government, but there are a lot of caveats, and not everyone would qualify.
Under the plan, there is no minimum income requirement to receive the payment, but you would have to file a federal tax return.
But, many questions remain, including where would the money come from?
“It is going to come from somewhere and it’s going to come from people you know already who are working for the federal government or people who are receiving, I don’t know, particular government benefits like Social Security and Medicare, among other things,” said Professor Jon Taylor, chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas – San Antonio.
In a proposal supported by President Trump and Elon Musk the best case scenario presumes DOGE will achieve $2 trillion in cuts to the government’s budget. From there the plan would take 20% of that total savings which is about $400 billion. That money would be set aside for about 79 million tax-paying households to each receive the $5,000 tax refund.
“We had a couple, like three rounds of stimulus checks to try to surprise, surprise, stimulate the economy given the post Covid situation. This is different when they’re calling it a dividend check. You have to be suspicious of it because what dividend are we saving here or gaining here?,” Taylor added.
The payments would only apply to households that are net payers of federal income tax – those are people who pay more in taxes than they get back.
With this plan, lower-income Americans would not qualify for the money. And, the Pew Research Center said any American making under $40,000 in adjusted gross income would not qualify, because they effectively don’t pay taxes.
“If it does happen, it would be probably a one time only thing. And then you have a federal government that is not able to provide certain services that millions of Americans depend on it,” Taylor said.
Elon Musk said he hopes the plan would incentify regular Americans to report fraud and waste, which is what DOGE is attempting to do with the federal government.