Fact Check: Does Bernie Sanders owe $1.6M in unpaid taxes?

WASHINGTON, DC: There’s a claim going around that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) discovered Senator Bernie Sanders owes $1.6 million in taxes. People have been posting about it on social media and even in political circles.

Sanders is currently serving his fourth term in the US Senate after winning reelection in 2024.

His previous 16 years in the House of Representatives make him the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history.

Claim: DOGE found Bernie Sanders owed $1.6 million in unpaid taxes

A post on Facebook with a photograph of Sanders shared the claim on December 24, adding that the senator was being referred to the Department of Justice for tax evasio

The post reads, “Bernie Sanders has 30 days to come up with $1.6 million in unpaid taxes on income he didn't declare until DOGE found it earlier this year. Sanders failed to report his grant money as income, even though $5 million of it went into his Cayman Islands accounts. He's also being referred to the Justice Department for tax evasion.”

Fact Check: No evidence DOGE uncovered that Bernie Sanders owes $1.6 million in back taxes

Snopes reported that the story about Sanders owing $1.6 million in unpaid taxes was based on a satirical post meant to poke fun at or criticize the Vermont senator.

The claim was mistakenly circulated through social media as factual, leading many users to believe Sanders had a major tax liability. 

Multiple web searches revealed no evidence that DOGE had uncovered that Sanders owed more than $1 million in back taxes.

The rumor about Sanders getting referred to the DOJ for tax evasion actually started with America’s Last Line of Defense, a Facebook page known for posting jokes and satire.

Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen Tom Cotton (R-AR) attend the inauguration of President Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The bio of the page states: "The flagship of the ALLOD network of trollery and propaganda for cash. Nothing on this page is real."

Further, a watermark on the photograph of Sanders that illustrated the claim read, "NOTHING on this page is REAL."

Still, people took the fake story seriously, especially as news broke that Sanders would swear in New York City’s incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who identifies as a democratic socialist.