The returns show that Sanders’ earnings shot up after his first presidential bid, when he built up a vast national following. His income topped $1 million in 2016 and 2017, lifted by proceeds from his books.
Sanders and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, had an adjusted gross income of $561,293 in 2018, according to their most recent tax return. Sanders had about $393,000 in book income in 2018, and he and his wife reported giving $18,950 to charity.
Their federal taxes came to $145,840, for an effective federal tax rate of 26 percent.
Sanders’ higher income in recent years creates some political awkwardness for the senator, who in his 2016 presidential campaign frequently railed against “millionaires and billionaires” and their influence over the political process.
His income now puts him within the top 1% of taxpayers, according to data from the IRS.
“These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate,” Sanders said in a statement. “I am very grateful for that, as I grew up in a family that lived paycheck to paycheck and I know the stress of economic insecurity.”
The issue of tax returns has been in the spotlight because of President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his own, a position that defies decades of tradition. House Democrats are now demanding to see his returns.
A picture of Sanders’ finances has already been available through his annual Senate financial disclosure filing, but the tax returns provide a precise accounting of his family’s income.
In the past three years, their income soared as a result of his book writing. Sanders’ book “Our Revolution” was published shortly after the 2016 election, and a young-adult book, “Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution,” followed the next year. Another book, “Where We Go From Here,” was published in 2018.
Sanders reported receiving about $840,000 in book income in 2016 and about $856,000 in 2017. His wife listed about $106,000 in income as a book author in 2017.
Tax returns released by other Democratic presidential candidates showed that they have also earned more than a vast majority of American households in recent years. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and her husband reported an adjusted gross income of about $1.9 million in 2018, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and her husband had $846,394 in adjusted gross income.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.