Award-winning filmmakers Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce join Jennifer Granholm in ‘The War Room’ tonight to talk about their latest film ‘We’re Not Broke,’ a documentary that dives into the hairy world of corporate taxation.
Every year hundreds U.S. corporations legally evade paying even a dime in federal income taxes by stashing their profits in offshore accounts and pocketing billions in profits. While perfectly legal, a grassroots uprising in protest of companies sidestepping the system has made it a priority to point out this systemic disparity in our government and hold companies accountable for their lack of participating in a tax system that most of the U.S. citizenry doesn’t have the luxury to dodge.
And it’s not just a matter of being fair. Citizens are paying taxes that feed federal programs, which fund things like our public school system, while large corporations standby and pay nothing while public school teachers get laid off right and left.
Senator Bernie Sanders makes the tax situation in the country crystal clear in the film: “Exxon Mobile, the largest oil company in the world made $19 billion in profits in 2009 and paid no federal income taxes. So, if you’re working stiff making $30-40,000 a year, you’re paying taxes, but if you’re Chevron and you made $10 billion in profits in 2009, you don’t have to pay any taxes.”
The film was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in January and will be screening in film festivals around the world this spring. Watch below for the full trailer and to take action against corporate tax evasion sign this petition.
