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April 16 (UPI) -- Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released 10 years of his tax returns as part of his 2020 campaign. The returns, released Monday, show an adjusted gross income for Sanders and his wife Jane of $561,293 in 2018. The couple paid a 26 percent effective tax rate. It was $1.131,925 in 2017 and $1,062,626 the year before when he ran for the Democratic nomination.
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"These tax returns show that our family has been fortunate," Sanders said in a statement Monday. "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.
"That is why I strive every day to ensure every American has the basic necessities of life, including a livable wage, decent housing, health care and retirement security. I consider paying more in taxes as my income rose to be both an obligation and an investment in our country."
Sanders pointed to advances and royalties of his books Our Revolution: A Future To Believe In and Where We Go From Here as the catalyst for his income increases.
Sanders' tax release follows tax returns from other Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.
President Donald Trump became the first candidate since the 1970s not to release his tax returns ahead of the 2106 election and has said he won't release them because he's under audit.
Rep. Richard Neal, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, has asked the IRS to release six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin stepped in, though, and has so far refused the request.
