The US Debt Strategy That Made Dave Ramsey Laugh

The national debt has been progressing upwards since 2005, currently sitting at over $38 trillion. This number is on the mind of many Americans, as the National Debt getting so high has serious implications for the U.S. In early October 2025, one listener wrote into financial expert Dave Ramey's radio show to inquire about the recent development that citizens can now Venmo the U.S. Treasury Department to help reduce the national debt. This caused the long-time financial guru to laugh out loud before explaining why he thinks that solution is kind of missing the forest for the trees.

Ramsey made the point of noting, "There's always some idiot out there who says everyone should pay their fair share. [...] If you're the type of person that believes this is a good idea, I think you should do it." However, his sarcastic support doesn't come from a belief that Venmoing the government is the ultimate solution. In fact, Ramsey went on to openly mock the people that would make these payments, citing that 49% of Americans don't pay any federal income tax at all and highlighting how he believes that distribution is indicative of a much larger problem with the way taxation is enforced than those donations could ever resolve. And while the Tax Policy Center reports that statistic lies closer to 40% in 2025, we doubt that detail would change Ramsey's stance that paying the institution he blames for allowing the national debt to get so high wouldn't solve anything.

On websites like Pay.gov, Americans are able to use multiple payment options to directly send funds to relieve the national debt. This site and the government as a whole have been accepting donations for a long time, with the Treasury announcing a total of around $734,000 accepted in 2025 as of August. And while that's a sizable amount of money in many people's eyes, it's hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the 14-digit national debt. Venmo's convenience could potentially yield more donations than in previous years, but Ramsey prefers another solution, stating, "Everybody ought to be paying something. I don't care if you make $5 and you pay a nickle." 

In fairness, income tax is just one of many forms of payment citizens make to their government. For example, American consumers are largely the ones footing the bill for the recently imposed tariffs. As for where the U.S. population's contributions to the federal coffers actually go, a recent U.S. Treasury report states a considerable amount of the federal government's over $7 trillion of fiscal spending in 2025 went toward Social Security. The Treasury also reports the government has collected around $5.23 trillion in the first ten months of 2025. If spending continues to outpace earnings this significantly, the national debt will only continue to grow. This is even with donations, and one of the largest changes to Social Security ever made under the One Big Beautiful Bill.