Bernie Sanders doubled his income last year by writing a best-selling book that condemns capitalism
- Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote a book called "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism."
- Per new disclosures, he made $170,000 in book royalties in 2022, nearly as much as his $174,000 salary.
According to Sen. Bernie Sanders's latest annual financial disclosures, the Vermont Independent earned $170,000 in book royalties in 2022 for his recently-published best-selling book, "It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism."
That's almost as much as the $174,000 salary that senators and House members collect each year.
Coupled with another $170,000 royalties payment from publisher Penguin Random House in 2020, Sanders has so far made $340,000 from the book.
Sanders' office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Sanders, a two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination and a proponent of Democratic Socialism, has long drawn scrutiny for the wealth he's managed to amass while in office.
Following his first presidential campaign in 2016, he wrote two books — "Our Revolution: A Future To Believe In" and "Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution" — that contributed to more than $1 million in book royalties disclosed on his 2017 financial disclosure.
"I wrote a best-selling book," he told the New York Times in 2019. "If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too."
Asked on Fox News if 2019 if making money off of a book constitutes the "definition of capitalism," Sanders explained that he hoped to create a society where everyone can enjoy the success that he has.
"I have a college degree. You know, I'm a United States senator," he said. "A lot of people don't have a college degree. A lot of people are not United States senators."
Sanders isn't the only senator who's made significant amounts of outside income on book sales.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a fellow progressive and 2020 presidential candidate, made even more than Sanders in book royalties in 2022, according to her own recently-filed financial disclosures.
Warren's grand total of $443,141 in 2022 book royalties comes from a few different sources: more than $23,000 in royalties from old textbook chapters she wrote during her previous career as a law professor, and nearly $420,000 in royalties from a series of recent books published with Macmillan Publishing Group, including "Persist" and a children's book called "Pinkie Promises."
And altogether, senators made a total of $1.8 million combined in book advances and royalties in 2020 — with Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas among the top earners.