Litle Known Films: America: From Freedon to Fascism

Documentary 2006 105 mins.

This ground breaking and very controversial documentary created quite a stir at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 and until recently was very hard to find in this country. Determined to find the law that requires American citizens to pay income tax, the late producer Aaron Russo (“The Rose,” “Trading Places”) set out on a journey to find the evidence. Neither left nor right-wing, this startling examination of government exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America since 1913 when the Federal Reserve System was "fraudulently" created. Through interviews with U.S. Congressmen, a former IRS Commissioner, former IRS agents, FBI agents, tax attorneys and authors, Russo connects the dots between money creation and the federal income tax.

The film argues that the Federal Reserve System is a system of privately held, for profit corporations, and not a government agency, and that it was commissioned to print fiat money on behalf of the federal government, at a fee ultimately paid for by the personal income tax (through service on bond interest). Further, the Federal Reserve operates by putting new notes into circulation to increase the ease of obtaining credit, which devalues the currency, then compounds inflation by increasing prime rates. Through its interviews with various lawmakers, the film shows that no one actually knows what corporations comprise the Federal Reserve System and that in actuality it is as Federal as Federal Express. Congress, according to the film, refuses to monitor the Federal Reserve even though it is their Congressional duty to do so.

Russo also sets forth, through a series of interviews, the tax protester argument that “there is no law requiring an income tax,” and that the personal income tax is illegally enforced to support the activities of the Federal Reserve System. When interviewing a former Commissioner of the IRS, the Commissioner walks out of the interview because he cannot point to one example where the word “income” actually appears in the IRS tax code. Another example involves a juror on a tax evasion case that kept asking the judge for the law that shows where one has to pay an income tax in that particular state and all the judge could say is that “you have all you need.” Ultimately, the defendant was victorious and the judge was shocked.

This fact-paced film will keep you riveted but be forewarned, be careful who you watch it with because you may or may not be talking to them after it’s over. This film is available exclusively in Rockland County at the Palisades Library.