DOGE Savings Tracker Faces Scrutiny Over Inaccuracies

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is encountering increasing criticism regarding the accuracy of its reported federal savings. These figures are essential for evaluating a prospective DOGE check aimed at taxpayers. The DOGE savings tracker, known as the “Wall of Receipts,” is a public ledger that displays canceled government contracts. However, it has undergone several revisions, which have substantially diminished the initially claimed savings.

Significant Corrections to the Tracker

In a notable update, DOGE removed or adjusted over 1,000 contracts from its Wall of Receipts, leading to a reduction of claimed savings by approximately $4 billion. As reported by The New York Times, these changes account for more than 40% of the total contracts listed prior to the revisions. Five of the seven largest savings entries from the previous week were also eliminated. As a result, total claimed savings have dropped from $16 billion on February 19 to below $9 billion.

Recurring Issues With Inaccuracies

Since its launch, the DOGE savings tracker has faced a multitude of inaccuracies. Miscalculations have included conflating billions with millions, duplicate listings of contract cancellations, and attributing savings for contracts that were concluded years earlier. For instance, a significant error involved a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which was initially reported as an $8 billion saving but was later corrected to a mere $8 million.

Highlighted Errors in Claims

Some of the most critical claims recently discarded from the savings tracker include:

• IRS Contract Cancellation: Initially reported as a $1.9 billion saving due to the cancellation of a tech assistance contract with the IRS, this claim was invalidated because the contract had been terminated back in November during the previous administration.
• HHS Administrative Assistants: A reported saving of $149 million from terminating a contract for administrative assistance at the Department of Health and Human Services contained multiple inaccuracies, including linking to an unrelated contract.
• USAID Libya Contract: DOGE claimed to have saved $133 million by canceling a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development for work already completed before DOGE’s involvement.

Such inconsistencies have raised alarms regarding DOGE’s grasp of federal contracting processes. Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, stated to The Times that the approach appears haphazard: “Overall, there’s a certain randomness to it. It seems like DOGE had certain agencies pull together some random lists of contracts that may or may not currently exist anyway, and then, without checking the data very well, uploaded it onto a website and summed up the amounts.”

Newly Introduced Taxpayer Savings Tracker

In light of the revisions, DOGE has launched a new feature on its website: a savings tracker that illustrates the amount saved per taxpayer. This tool is perceived as a potential precursor to the DOGE check proposal, which suggests returning 20% of DOGE’s total savings to taxpayers. As of March 2, 2025, DOGE claims to have achieved $105 billion in savings, which would equate to approximately $652.17 per taxpayer based on 161 million federal taxpayers. This figure contrasts with the 179 million figure used by James Fishback, the proponent of the DOGE check concept.

At the current estimated savings level, if the proposal were put into effect, the value of a potential DOGE check would be around $130.43 per taxpayer.