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How the IRS is going after billionaires dodging taxes · Apple News Today

• 0:00
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 0:05
  Yasmeen Khan, Narrating: Good morning. It's Monday, February 5th.
• 0:07
  I'm Yasmeen Khan, in for Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today."
• 0:12
  Coming up, how prison labor may be connected to the food you're eating,
• 0:17
  the IRS cracks down on wealthy tax evaders,
• 0:20
  and the Grammys' biggest moments.
• 0:25
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
• 0:27
  But first, a quick look at a few major stories in the news.
• 0:32
  The Senate has a bipartisan deal for a bill to fund border security
• 0:36
  and new aid to Ukraine and Israel.
• 0:39
  The 118 billion dollar legislation is the result of weeks of negotiations,
• 0:44
  but it's not clear what can pass in the House.
• 0:47
  Speaker Mike Johnson says this bill is dead on arrival.
• 0:51
  Many House Republicans say they want much tougher border measures
• 0:54
  in exchange for new military aid for Ukraine and Israel.
• 0:59
  Meanwhile, the U.S. has plans to strike more targets
• 1:02
  in response to the attack that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan.
• 1:06
  Earlier retaliation hit dozens of targets in Iraq and Syria.
• 1:10
  Those targets were tied to militants backed by Iran.
• 1:14
  White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told "CBS"
• 1:18
  that the response to the killings is still underway.
• 1:21
  [START CBS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:21
  Jake Sullivan: What happened on Friday was the beginning, not the end of our response,
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  and that there will be more steps, some seen, some perhaps unseen,
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  all in an effort to send a very clear message
• 1:30
  that when American forces are attacked, when Americans are killed,
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  as three service members tragically were at Tower 22, we will respond,
• 1:39
  and we will respond forcefully, and we will respond in a sustained way.
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  [END CBS ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 1:44
  Khan, Narrating: And Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region, as talks continue
• 1:48
  on a possible ceasefire in Gaza and release of hostages and prisoners.
• 1:54
  In California, a severe storm is hitting the state,
• 1:57
  with residents bracing for days of heavy rain, snow, wind,
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  flooding, and power outages.
• 2:04
  Northern California has already been feeling the impact
• 2:06
  of the severe weather, with more than half a million people without power
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  at one point. The dangerous conditions have started to move south.
• 2:15
  And in Chile, more than 100 people are dead in wildfires across the country.
• 2:21
  Today and tomorrow are declared days of national mourning for those killed.
• 2:25
  [PENSIVE MUSIC]
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  It's the country's worst disaster since the earthquake
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  that killed hundreds of people nearly 15 years ago.
• 2:43
  If you've ever bought food at McDonald's, Whole Foods, Costco, or Walmart,
• 2:48
  it's likely you've eaten food produced by U.S. prison labor.
• 2:52
  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  "The Associated Press" has an extensive investigation into the spider web
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  of supply chains that link restaurants and grocery stores
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  to incarcerated people who are often forced to work for little or no pay.
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  Margie Mason is an investigative reporter who worked on the piece for two years.
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  She and her reporting partner traveled the country to observe this system at work
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  with their own eyes.
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  In one case, they followed a truckload of cattle raised
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  at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola.
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  Margie Mason: We followed that cattle from the gates of the prison to an auction house.
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  We watched those cattle be sold.
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  We watched them getting loaded back onto another truck.
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  And then we followed them another 600 miles from Louisiana to Texas
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  to a meat processor. And from there we were able to determine
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  that that beef was going into the supply chains of really major companies.
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  Khan, Narrating: At Angola, they raised cattle, picked cotton and vegetables.
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  One man who spent more than 50 years there said water was scarce,
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  and he saw people pass out in triple-digit heat.
• 3:58
  In many cases, people in prison earn pennies an hour for their work,
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  or sometimes nothing. And if they refuse to work,
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  they might risk their chance of parole or get sent to solitary confinement.
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  People the "AP" spoke with found it especially frustrating
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  to be producing food for sale while their own meals in prison
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  were poor quality.
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  Mason: A lot of these big prison farms, they raise this beef
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  and then they sell it on the open market.
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  But then they end up buying the cheaper stuff, you know,
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  or the stuff that's filled with soy or whatever. And that's then what is fed
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  to the prisoners. And they're saying, you know, we're raising this
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  and we're having to eat this lesser quality meat or, in some cases,
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  we're not getting much meat at all.
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  Khan, Narrating: Prisons say that the work is not all forced, that it helps build skills
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  so that people can find work after their release,
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  and that it saves taxpayer money because some of the food
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  produced by incarcerated people is served in prisons.
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  The "AP" contacted the food companies that it traced to prison labor.
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  Most of the companies did not respond.
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  Some, including McDonald's, said they're investigating.
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  Whole Foods said it doesn't allow prison labor in products it sells.
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  Companies that use prison labor are not breaking the law.
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  The 13th Amendment banned slavery except as punishment for a crime.
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  There are efforts to change this exception in state constitutions
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  that could reach the ballot in roughly a dozen states this year.
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  Mason: And so voters are going to have a chance to change it.
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  And what then that would mean is if the language is changed,
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  then that opens up the possibility for legal action to be taken.
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  Khan, Narrating: In the meantime, some prisoners, like people at Angola, are working
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  on the same fields where enslaved people were once forced to work.
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  [INTRIGUING MUSIC]
• 5:55
  The IRS says it's stepping up efforts to go after rich people
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  who aren't paying their fair share of taxes.
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  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  [START NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Danny Werfel: If you're high wealth with a tax issue, you will see more scrutiny.
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  [END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Khan, Narrating: That's IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel speaking with "NPR" recently.
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  [START NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Werfel: So we are absolutely ramping up efforts to figure out
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  where we have wealthy filers. These are millionaires and billionaires,
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  but also large corporations and complex partnerships,
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  who are increasingly shielding their income and not paying what they owe.
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  [END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 6:28
  Khan, Narrating: Money has been an issue for the agency.
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  For years, the IRS said it's been chronically underfunded.
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  Republicans have pushed to cut its funding
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  and supported eliminating the agency altogether.
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  In 2022, the IRS got an 80 billion dollar budget boost,
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  but a quarter of that was taken back.
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  Werfel told "NPR" how the IRS has been putting the money it did get to use.
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  [START NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Werfel: So we, for example, created a high risk list
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  of 1600 millionaires and billionaires who owe back taxes.
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  And we've put in a laser focused effort to collect that money.
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  And we're working our way through that list.
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  In just several months, we've collected nearly 200 million dollars in back taxes.
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  And we're not even through the list yet.
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  [END NPR ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 7:16
  Khan, Narrating: The IRS says it's also doing a lot to improve service
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  for the rest of us non-wealthy taxpayers.
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  For example, it hired thousands of people to answer phones and taxpayer questions.
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  The IRS says it was able to reduce phone wait times to three minutes,
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  down from nearly half an hour.
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  It's also putting in new technology to deal more efficiently
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  with all the filings that still get mailed in on paper.
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  And the IRS is piloting a new program that will allow some people
• 7:46
  to file their taxes for free directly through the IRS.
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  The pilot's now limited to government employees
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  with relatively simple taxes in a handful of states.
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  The agency says it's also trying to make it easier for all tax filers
• 8:00
  to get information about the status of their refunds.
• 8:03
  [UPBEAT MUSIC]
• 8:15
  Women artists ruled the Grammys last night.
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  The awards have often been criticized for overlooking the work of women,
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  but women dominated nominations in the top categories,
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  and they swept the big three awards.
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  [MUSIC FADES OUT]
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  Miley Cyrus won Record of the Year with "Flowers."
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  Song of the Year was "What Was I Made For,"
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  which Billie Eilish co-wrote for the Barbie soundtrack
• 8:38
  with her brother, Finneas O'Connell.
• 8:40
  And Taylor Swift made history, winning Album of the Year for "Midnights."
• 8:44
  [START YOUTUBE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:45
  [CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING]
• 8:45
  Taylor Swift: All I want to do is keep doing this.
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  So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much.
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  [END YOUTUBE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 8:52
  Khan, Narrating: That win moved Swift ahead of legends like Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon,
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  and Frank Sinatra as the only artist to win Album of the Year four times.
• 9:01
  During the ceremony, she also revealed that her next album,
• 9:05
  "The Tortured Poets Department", is coming out in April.
• 9:09
  Iconic women artists also had some of the best performances of the night.
• 9:14
  Tracy Chapman made a rare public appearance to duet with Luke Combs.
• 9:18
  The country singer idolizes Chapman, and his cover of "Fast Car"
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  brought her song to a new generation of fans.
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  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 9:25
  [LUKE AND TRACY SING "FAST CAR"]
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 9:37
  Joni Mitchell also performed at the ceremony for the first time.
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  It capped a long recovery from a brain aneurysm she had
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  nine years ago, which left her unable to speak or walk.
• 9:48
  [START ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 9:48
  [JONI MITCHELL SINGING]
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  [END ARCHIVAL CLIP]
• 9:54
  Mitchell won Best Folk Album more than 50 years after her first Grammy win.
• 9:59
  And, Jay-Z accepted an award for Global Impact.
• 10:02
  [MUSIC FADES IN]
• 10:03
  He talked about how the Grammys were slow to recognize rap.
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  And he said it was frustrating that Beyonce has never won Album of the Year
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  even as the most awarded artist in Grammys history.
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  You can find more Grammys coverage on the Apple News app,
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  along with all the stories we talked about.
• 10:20
  And if you're already listening in the News app right now,
• 10:23
  we've got a narrated article from "Vanity Fair" playing for you next.
• 10:27
  The writer looks at Apple's new Vision Pro and talks with Tim Cook
• 10:31
  about making it and the future of spatial computing.
• 10:35
  If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News Plus Narrated
• 10:38
  to find that story. So sit back, enjoy listening to that,
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  and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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  [MUSIC FADES OUT]