"Freedom to Fascism" Raises as many Questions as it Answers

What Law Requires You to File an Income Tax Report?

Freedom to Fascism is a documentary by Aaron Russo that asks what law specifically requires an individual to file an income tax report and pay income taxes?

There is no Law Requiring Payment of Income Tax

Of course, there is no such law and Mr Russo handily skewers the federal government on that point. I found this part of the movie fascinating and educational. He cites a Supreme Court ruling saying the 16th Amendment (which authorized an income tax) did not actually give the government any more authority than it already had. And it did not have the authority to levy a direct unapportioned tax, which is what the federal income tax is. This is the best legal case against the income tax I have seen so far.

We don’t Need Income Tax Funds to Cover Basic Services?

He claims that money raised by the income tax almost exactly covers interest payments on the national debt, so, in fact, we could eliminate it without affecting services people count on. (How we will pay the interest he did not say.) But the movie also claimed that corporate taxes cover the defense budget. Later in the movie he says that corporate taxes only bring in around 240 billion dollars. Last time I checked we were spending a trillion dollars on defense.

The Government should do the Federal Reserve’s Job of Conjuring Cash?

He then introduces the Federal Reserve and implies that the income tax made it possible. I still do not get the connection.

The movie does an adequate job of debunking the Federal Reserve. It demands the Fed be abolished and that the government itself take over the job of issuing currency so as to save interest costs.

But wouldn’t the government just hire similarly “evil” bankers as work at the Federal Reserve to run its new Department of the Dollar? Won’t it still facilitate fractional reserve lending? Democratizing the currency is no more a solution to inflation than democratizing the health care system will make us healthier.

Government must Get out of the Way of Alternative Currencies

Why should the government even be in the business of issuing currency? We need to ensure alternative currencies are allowed to flourish. I’d much rather be carrying gold coins then vacuum-backed paper or, barring that, be able to buy stock in a currency venture that circulates notes backed by audited, verifiable reserves of fungible commodities like gold and silver.

Just a Little Nuttiness

A lot of what I consider nuttiness finds its way into the film, including:

A quote from Revelations about “the mark”, implicitly suggesting that RFID chips and the REAL ID are that “mark”. The whole chipping section was over the top.
That the 16th amendment was never actually ratified. I’m on the fence on this one but it still seems a bit “out there”.
A momentary jerk of the knee about open borders and the North American Union. I know there is substance to the North American Union charge, but I don’t consider it serious enough to worry about now.

Clearly that’s not as far out there as, say, Alex Jones, but it’s just beyond my comfort zone.

Some Great Ideas

A couple great ideas I found in the movie are:

Audit the gold deposits the Fed is holding on our behalf. Why isn’t this being done?
Abolish computer voting. As long as the source code is closed we can not trust these tamper-prone voting machines.

Civil Disobedience? What will that Accomplish?

The story concludes with a very conventional call to civil disobedience – strikes, boycotts and such – but I don’t see the point. What is that going to accomplish?

Based on the information presented in this movie, I don’t even see the point of resisting the income tax, other than the fact that abolishing it would put more money in my pocket.

If the Fed is the root of all this evil, how do we resist it until such time as we can elect an anti-Fed majority to Congress? Wouldn’t the use of alternate currencies be a good use of the average person’s meager power?

Repeal the 16th Amendment

We need to take our case to the American people, repeal the 16th amendment and demand that the IRS be abolished. This is the first step towards ridding ourselves of taxation.

I Need More Information before Purchasing

For any person concerned about their freedom, Freedom to Fascism is an enlightening 110 minutes. But the movie left me skeptical. I’d like to see a paper of academic quality outlining the same arguments before I can properly buy into this movie’s entire message, and consider actioning its rather weak call to action.