--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 16th. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill is just the first of President Biden's major initiatives. But big changes like this are not cheap. Bloomberg News reports that in order to help fund the rest of Biden's agenda, which includes things like infrastructure and green energy programs, the Biden administration is planning the first major federal tax increase since 1993.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And this is probably going to include rolling back a big chunk of President Trump's signature accomplishment, his 2017 tax cuts. The White House rejected a straight-up wealth tax, which would tax a person's net assets, not just income. Instead, the administration is reportedly preparing measures that would include increasing the tax rate for people earning more than $400,000 a year.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Another measure that Biden's team is considering is raising the corporate tax rate. Under President Trump, this was cut from 35 percent to 21 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post explains that Biden hasn't proposed totally reversing that change, but could still hike corporate taxes. It's an idea lots of Republicans and business leaders say could hurt the U.S. if it causes American companies to relocate to countries with lower tax rates.
--:-- Shamita Basu: To combat that, The Washington Post is reporting Yellen is working with her worldwide counterparts on a global minimum tax. The idea here is it would discourage countries from reducing their rates to try to lure corporations in.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Here is Yellen during her confirmation hearings. We look forward to actively working with other countries through the OECD negotiations on taxes on multinational corporations to try to stop what has been a destructive global race to the bottom on corporate taxation.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And when she talks about a race to the bottom this is what she means. The Washington Post notes in 1980 the average corporate tax rate globally was about 40 percent. Today it closer to 23 percent.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now skeptics warn that a global minimum tax is complicated to implement and they aren't sure it'll even work. It was basically a non-starter during the Trump administration. But with Yellen at the table, there might be a shot at a brand new approach.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Pressure is mounting on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Multiple women are now accusing him of sexual harassment. Leaders from his own party are calling for him to resign. He has refused.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We want to turn to an article that's getting a lot of attention this week. New York Magazine's cover story by Rebecca Traister is a really deep dive describing the workplace culture in the governor's office, the impact it had on women and the greater dysfunction it masked.
--:-- Rebecca Traister: For this story, I spoke to 30 women, many of them told of similar experiences. They met the governor as young women and were recruited to work for him. They claim to have had uncomfortable interactions with the governor. They say he often commented on their appearances, and while around him, they felt pressure to look and act a certain way.
--:-- Rebecca Traister: Some said they were advised to wear high heels around him. One woman said she never felt more depleted by the male gaze. These women describe an office where Cuomo and his senior staffers frequently yell at people, and not just his own staff, but also politicians, union officials, journalists.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One woman who worked in the office says she sees it as a cycle of abuse. Cuomo verbally abuses his top aides, and then they yell at everyone around them. She believes Cuomo and his team had good policy ideas, but the culture was, quote, so violent and corrosive that people can't get anything done.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And that's just a taste of what's in this deeply reported story with a lot of interesting and some disturbing details. Go to the Apple News app to read the whole thing. You can also listen to it as an audio story. You can find the links in the notification we send you midway through the show.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Biden administration is getting ready to launch a billion campaign to try to convince more Americans to get vaccinated against COVID. Stat reports the program will target three groups in particular, young people, people of color and conservatives.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Let's zoom in on that last group. A recent Marist poll found Republican men and 2020 Trump voters were the most likely to say no to a vaccine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Washington Post takes a look at one effort to understand why. Frank Luntz, who is a longtime GOP pollster, recently held a focus group with vaccine-hesitant Trump voters from across the country.
--:-- Frank Luntz: The people in this group don't describe themselves as anti-vaxxers. They all said they know the coronavirus is a real threat. But what's making them hesitant is they say it feels like politicians and public health experts are trying to indoctrinate them, not educate them about the vaccine.
--:-- Frank Luntz: The respondents said what's turning them off are pitches coming from politicians, like that recent public service announcement, the one where former presidents Obama, George W. Bush, Clinton and Carter got together to encourage us to get vaccinated. That didn't go over too well with these respondents.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's not like hearing from Republican politicians helped sway this group either. Many of the respondents said they would rather hear from a doctor or, frankly, someone close to them that they trust, like their spouse.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Any hint of political influence was just a turnoff. Case in point, Tom Frieden spoke to people in this focus group. He's a former CDC director. He specifically listed several facts about the virus and the vaccines, like the number of doctors who chose to be inoculated and the number of people who were part of vaccine trials.
--:-- Tom Frieden: I like the doctors. I like the medical situation when they give us the facts and talk to us without any politics involved. I think that helps me see that my bias was probably with the political side of it, getting involved and just separating the medical side of it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: By the end of the focus group session all of the participants said they were more likely to get vaccinated than when the session began. Now this is not a huge sample size. It was 19 people who completed it. But reading the story in The Washington Post the key takeaway seemed to be vaccine messaging is most effective coming from doctors, family members, and friends. Keep politics out of it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Americans who are deliberating don't want to be told that they have to do something. They want to be armed with good information so they can make the best decision for themselves.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: It's spring break, and despite coronavirus warnings, some college students and young people are flocking to Florida to party. The situation there is so bad, one local mayor is sort of pushing an anti-tourism message.
--:-- Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber: Look, if you're coming here because you think this is an anything-goes place, Please don't come here. And if you do, there's a really good chance you're going to be arrested.
--:-- Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber: We are arresting many more people than we ought to, because frankly, it's never good to be arresting this many people. But we have no other options given the convergence of a pandemic, as well as sort of a desire of people to come here and do things they ought not be doing.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Not only were hundreds of people arrested, but at least two police officers were also injured. In one case, local police officers fired pepper balls, basically using riot gear to disperse a large crowd.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The mayor says here's what he thinks is happening. Not a lot of other destination cities are open for business right now. Plane tickets are cheap and the weather in Miami is warm. So people are flocking there.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: One thing making it tricky for the mayor is that Florida's governor doesn't allow the city to fine people for not wearing masks. So Miami Beach is doing what it can, including a midnight curfew, beefed up police presence, open alcohol containers are banned, and there are capacity limits on beaches.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But even that might not be enough to stop spring breakers from breaking COVID rules. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And while you're there, check out some of our audio stories. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
