As President-elect Donald Trump assembles the cabinet for his incoming presidential administration, he has also announced his plan to create an initiative he calls the “Department of Governmental Efficiency” (DOGE).
The stated goal of DOGE — which will be headed by billionaires Elon Musk of Tesla and Vivek Ramaswamy — is to “reduce wasteful federal spending,” as reported by CBS News.
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Trump himself has described DOGE — which is not an actual government department, and would require congressional approval to become one — as his plan to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal agencies.”
Those three stated goals are exactly how DOGE may impact your finances for the better: deregulation, the cessation of excessive governmental spending and cutting/combining redundant and overlapping governmental agencies.
While the economic impact of such moves has not been explicitly stated by Trump, Musk or Ramaswamy, it’s likely safe to assume that a decrease of government waste could potentially lead to lower taxes for all.
The Viability of DOGE
To successfully do what DOGE proclaims would result in a massive decrease of federal spending, though it’s likely not going to cut $2 trillion in fed spending, as Musk has promised.
Further, while cutting any amount of the federal debt would be a good thing, there remains a great deal of doubt as to exactly how DOGE would do so.
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As CBS News reported, Congress is unlikely to give DOGE actual governmental power, as both the House and Senate will likely want to protect popular programs like Medicare and Social Security. DOGE has no actual authority to cut spending, and, at most, may serve in an advisory position to the president.
At the very least, it seems Musk and Ramaswamy are serious about cutting federal spending, as all employees of DOGE will apparently receive no paychecks, which, again, could save taxpayers money come tax season. Musk posted on X that the compensation for DOGE employees would be “zero.”
While that sounds great on paper — an agency of any sort that costs next to no money — how Musk and Ramaswamy plan to actually find employees willing to work for free, or whether they will take salaries or not, remains to be seen.
Editor’s note on election coverage: GOBankingRates is nonpartisan and strives to cover all aspects of the economy objectively and present balanced reports on politically focused finance stories. You can find more coverage of this topic on GOBankingRates.com.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency May Impact Your Wallet
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