In 2018, billionaire Al Sharpton received $1,046,948 from his own civil rights group National Action Network, according to the Harlem-based non-profit's latest tax documents.
Sharpton's salary stood at $324,000, which is 32% higher than his 2017 pay. He also got $159,596 as a bonus and $563,352 in 'other compensation'.
According to the NAN, the extra money was paid to him as reimbursement for the 2004-2017 period when he did not receive his full salary.
"He has now been fully compensated for all the years he was underpaid and received no bonus”, the NAN said in a statement.
Upon receiving such news, netizens took to Twitter to express their outrage.
The billionaire, however, argued that he deserved the raise in salary he received last year.
“It’s a six-day-a-week job and several hours a day and when [the compensation firm] compared it to other companies, other nonprofits, that’s the salary that they would get”, he said.
Last year, NAN’s documents showed that Al Sharpton had sold the rights to his life story to his own charity for $531,000. The organization said that they would profit from the deal as it could turn around and sell the rights.
According to the documents, the last year the CEO went without a salary was 2008, and he has been paid hundreds of thousands of US dollars every year since. In 2014, Sharpton got much more than the average salary suitable for the position — $348,244 plus a $64,400 bonus, tax filings show. The same was true in 2016 when he was paid $250,000 plus a $437,555 bonus, and in 2017, when he received $244,661.