His tax returns will certainly show that he donated most or all of his book royalties to the government.
Bernie Sanders says he's a millionaire and 'If you write a best-selling book,' you can be one tooWilliam Cummings and Aki Soga, USA TODAY
Published April 10, 2019
Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says 'we have a president who is a racist.' (April 5) AP
Sen. Bernie Sanders told The New York Times on Tuesday that he will release 10 years worth of tax returns while also spilling that he too is a member of the millionaire class he so often derided in his speeches.
"I wrote a best-selling book," the Vermont independent and self-described democratic socialist said. "If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too."
Sanders currently leads in polls among declared candidates for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Last week, his campaign said he raised more than $18 million in the first quarter, by far the most of any candidate who has reported fundraising results so far.
"We wanted to release 10 years of tax returns. April 15, 2019, will be the 10th year, so I think you will see them," Sanders told the Times.
Sanders' pay day: Book deals, salary make Sanders a millionaire
Sanders has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump's failure to release his tax returns. The senator's delay in releasing his own return has left him vulnerable to accusations of being a hypocrite.
"I hope that Donald Trump will do exactly the same. We are going to release 10 years of our tax returns, and we hope that on that day Donald Trump will do the same," Sanders told the Times.
The left-wing lawmaker did not feel his tax returns would be as of much interest to the voters, however.
"Not being a billionaire, not having investments in Saudi Arabia, wherever he has investments, all over the world, mine will be a little bit more boring," he said in the interview with the Times.
Sanders was pressed on when he would release his tax returns during a February appearance on a CNN town hall, as he was by Trevor Noah during a recent appearance on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.
He never released his returns during his 2016 Democratic primary and Hillary Clinton criticized his lack of transparency. Sanders said there was no need to release the returns because he failed to win the nomination.
A financial disclosure statement he put out in 2017 revealed Sanders earned a $795,000 advance for the book about his 2016 campaign, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In."
Sander's self-imposed deadline on Monday for the release of his tax returns coincides with a scheduled appearance at a town hall hosted by Fox News, a network the senator has called mostly "right-wing propaganda."
Sanders explained his reason for agreeing to the Fox appearance to Huffpost: "You’ve got to go into areas where people are. Working people need to know the truth, and that is that Donald Trump betrayed them, lied to them. And I intend to do that."
The Democratic National Committee last month barred Fox from hosting any of the party's primary debates.
Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates," said a statement from DNC Chairman Tom Perez.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/04/10/bernie-sanders-millionaire-vows-release-10-years-tax-returns/3422903002/
