We're Not Broke

Filmmakers Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce argue that depleted municipal budgets, shuttered schools, and social-services cutbacks need not be commonplace in America—if only big, greedy corporations yielded the billions they rightfully owe in federal income tax. Instead, giant companies such as General Electric, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Google—and even the much-admired Apple—pay little or no taxes, thanks in part to off-shore shelters, especially in Bermuda and the Caymans (Mitt Romney cameos here), that exploit legal loopholes in the 72,000-page tax code. Meanwhile, corporate lobbyists continue to campaign for cuts in their employer's tax rates, a move backed by politicians despite little evidence that anyone would benefit, aside from CEOs and the super-richest. Supportive interviewees run the gamut—from business authors and economic journalists (from Tax Notes, Tax Analysts, and Bloomberg News) to young anti-corporate activist Carl Gibson, who founded the protest group US Uncut in imitation of a similar grassroots U.K. organization, and is proud to back Occupy Wall Street. Although sometimes guilty of oversimplification (did being a corporate tax-haven sellout really collapse Ireland's "economic miracle?"), this powerful documentary is non-partisan—making Democrats look as bad as Republicans when it comes to greed and pandering. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)