What seems to have riled Sanders' critics is that in 2016 and 2017 his income exceeded a million dollars as a result of his best-selling book "Our Revolution," along with two other books that he and his wife produced. Some of the book revenue went directly to charity and was not claimed as a tax deduction.

You want to fuss about book deals? Sen. Harris made $732,500 for writing "The Truths We Hold" and a companion children's book. She claimed $412,000 in expenses directly related to the books, which sounds like quite a trick.

Bernie Sanders has no beef with Americans who become millionaires. What angers him is that they aren't asked to pay enough in taxes and that some of the wealthiest among them exert undo influence on our government.

Sanders says the rich, himself included, should pay more as "both an obligation and an investment in our country.” He pledged to “continue to fight to make our tax system more progressive so that our country has the resources to guarantee the American Dream to all people.”

To Sanders' credit, on the day he released his returns he sat for a town hall on Fox News, a conservative cauldron that most Democrats have declined to enter. Sanders got the highest ratings of any Democrat's town hall so far this year. President Trump tweeted, "So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @FoxNews.”

Confronted by host Bret Baier about his millionaire status, Sanders said he was fortunate to have a college degree, to be a U.S. senator and to have written a best-selling book. Acknowledging that not everyone is so lucky, he stressed, "I want everybody in this country to be able to have health care, to have education, to, when they turn on the water, have drinking water, not toxic water."

The Fox hosts noted that the Vermont senator had benefited from the Trump tax legislation, but Sanders was quick to point out that he voted against it.

Anyone who claims Sanders is hypocritical for suggesting that the wealthy pay more taxes because he is among them has it completely upside down. The more someone earns the more powerful their argument. The billionaire Warren Buffett is among the more outspoken, and credible, advocates of tax reform. Imagine if self-described billionaire Donald Trump had demanded that rich people pay more, rather than designing tax breaks from which he presumably benefited handsomely.

Voters might conclude that Bernie Sanders is too progressive to be president. But there's no basis whatsoever to suggest that he's too rich.

(c) Peter Funt. Distributed by Cagle syndicate.