Book deals, salary make Sanders a millionaire

Sen. Bernie Sanders' income spiked in 2016 as he finished a bid for the presidency, according to a new financial disclosure report filed Sunday with the U.S. Senate.

The independent Vermont senator earned a $795,000 advance for the book about his presidential campaign, "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In." The publisher also paid for Sanders and his wife, Jane, to take a 19-stop cross-country book tour, according to the financial disclosure.

Sunday's report is the first glimpse of Sanders' financial situation in 2016 during the presidential campaign that made him a celebrity. Sanders released his tax return in April 2016 but never filed a candidate financial disclosure statement with the Federal Election Commission during the Democratic primary.

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The new report shows that Sanders earned $63,750 from a version of the book marketed at young adults, which is expected to be published this summer, as well as $6,735 from his 1997 memoir, "Outsider in the House," which was updated and re-titled "Outsider in the White House" for the presidential campaign.

Sanders earned a total of $865,484 from his books, plus $2,520 in royalties from the 1987 folk album that he recorded while mayor of Burlington. Sanders was mayor from 1981-89.

Sanders also received $5,086 in pension income from the city of Burlington, while Jane Sanders received more than $1,000 in retirement income.

More:Jane Sanders defends non-disclosure, vacation home

With his $174,000 earned as a U.S. senator, Sanders' total earnings in 2016 totaled more than $1 million.

The top 1 percent of United States individual taxpayers earned an adjusted gross income of $465,626 in 2014, the most recent year that Internal Revenue Service data are available.

All proceeds from Sanders' 2011 book "The Speech" went directly to charity, according to the report.

Sanders also donated his public speaking feesfrom five appearances— a total of $4,050 — to charity. Three of the appearances benefited a West Virginia food bank, while the other two speaking fees were donated to Burlington Meals on Wheels and the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network, according to Sanders' office.

Sanders reported two mortgages in addition to a family trust that was used to purchase a vacation home on Lake Champlain in North Hero.

Jane Sanders told The Associated Press in August 2016 that the couple used the book advance money to pay $575,000 in cash for the four-bedroom summer home.

Read Sanders' financial disclosure here.

Contact April McCullum at 802-660-1863 or amccullum@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @April_McCullum. 
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