Witnesses in GA Trump probe suspected of lying, Raquel Welch dies at 82: 5 things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Witnesses in Georgia Trump investigation suspected of lying

Witnesses in Georgia's Trump investigation are suspected of lying. What's that mean for the probe? Plus, default on the debt ceiling may come in July, USA TODAY Personal Finance and Markets Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald explains how to file your taxes in the gig economy, USA TODAY Investigative Data Reporter Jayme Fraser looks at diversity in corporate America, and Raquel Welch dies at 82.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 16th of February 2023. Today, more questions surrounding Georgia's inquiry of former President Donald Trump's efforts to interfere in the 2020 election. Plus, a look at the latest debt ceiling timeline and how to do your taxes in the gig economy.

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A Georgia Grand Jury is concerned that witnesses lied in their investigation of former President Donald Trump and his allies' efforts to interfere in the state's 2020 election. Descriptions of those alleged lies could be unveiled today when parts of the grand jury's report are made public. The witnesses themselves won't be identified and no one has been charged, but prosecutors could pursue perjury charges. A perjury charge could be used to leverage testimony for more serious conspiracy charges according to legal experts. That might include so-called RICO charges, which allege a suspect participated in at least two crimes as part of a pattern of criminal activity. The grand jury is investigating attempts to interfere with the 2020 election, including Trump's call in January of 2021 to Georgia's Secretary of State asking him to find enough votes for him to win the state. Trump has denied wrongdoing.

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Default on the debt ceiling could come as soon as July. The Congressional Budget Office declared yesterday that the US Treasury will run out of money to pay government bills by the summer. That includes things like Social Security and military paychecks. Lawmakers need to reach an agreement to avoid the catastrophe, but Republicans are threatening to not raise the federal debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to cut federal spending. President Joe Biden and Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy agree that Social Security and Medicare are off the table. That accounts for about 1/3 of federal spending alone. Republicans oppose cuts to defense for veterans programs, making up another 15%, and Democrats who control the Senate are unwilling to go along with broad cuts to a number of social safety programs. That's going to make it tough for Congress to figure out what's a trim in the next few weeks and months.

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So much work now takes place in the so-called gig economy. So what does that mean for tax season? USA TODAY Personal Finance and Markets Reporter Elisabeth Buchwald explains.

Elisabeth, welcome back to 5 Things.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

Thanks for having me back on.

Taylor Wilson:

So the IRS is a different process for those who make their money in the so-called gig economy. What types of jobs are we talking about, Elisabeth, and what's the difference in terms of how gig workers file their taxes?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

The platforms you want to think about are Airbnb, are DoorDash, Uber, all those different third party platforms where you can earn side money. It's also payments people receive for gig work through Venmo and PayPal, those kinds of platforms. What's different about the reporting for them versus your traditional workers, they don't get a W2 which reports all your earnings from the year. They get a similar form called a 1099, and there are different versions of it that different gig workers get. But what happens is if you earned $20,000 or more from 200 transactions, the party that you earn money from will automatically send you a form that's quite similar to the W2.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned these payment platforms, things like PayPal and Venmo, they're often used to facilitate gig work. It's how a lot of these workers get paid. How are they involved with the tax filing process?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

So there was a rule that was set to go into effect for this year that was supposed to make it so that if you earned at least $600 from platforms like that and other e-commerce platforms, you would have to have that income reported. Now this year, the IRS is going to be delaying that and putting it into effect next year. So what that means is you might not get that form, that 1099 that I was mentioning, from the platform like Venmo or PayPal. An expert I spoke with still says it's important to report that income. Especially if you're audited, you could end up paying more in fees than you would otherwise from just reporting it.

Taylor Wilson:

So everyone's favorite part of tax season, the deductions. What are some of the tax deductions that gig workers and freelancers could be eligible for?

Elisabeth Buchwald:

A lot of the deductions that gig workers can take is quite similar to what self-employed individuals can take. And that can be really lucrative when you're filling out your tax returns. So you think about the home office deduction. There's also deductions for just normal costs of doing business. So if you drive a car to meet with clients, you can deduct some of that mileage or really any other crucial expenses.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Elisabeth Buchwald covers personal finance and markets for USA TODAY. Always a pleasure, Elisabeth. Thanks so much.

Elisabeth Buchwald:

Yeah, thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

How diverse is corporate America? There's been some progress, but there are still few women and people of color leading America's top companies. USA TODAY Investigative Data Reporter Jayme Fraser has more. Jayme, thanks for coming on the show.

Jayme Fraser:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So what did your analysis reveal about diversity in the S&P 100?

Jayme Fraser:

Sure. So when many of America's biggest companies made diversity pledges after the murder of George Floyd, Jessica Guynn and I decided to track how well they lived up to those promises. In that first year, we found stark disparities for people of color and women, particularly when it came to executive ranks. So we wanted to dive a little deeper. And for this story, we wanted to come up with a different way to measure who holds the most power because the way it's typically reported, companies show that they have hundreds of people in executive jobs, when really the most power is held by a handful of individuals at the top of those companies.

And so that's why we looked at named executive specifically. Now that's just a technical term for the highest ranked people and the best paid at any company. It's typically the CEO, the chief operating officer are the three highest paid. We looked at those people for 2020 and 2022. We found that disparities existed even at the highest level of these companies. Although white men account for about 1/3 of US workers, they held about 70% of these top jobs. But we did find that representation was improving for some groups.

Taylor Wilson:

And so where did you find the most progress, Jayme?

Jayme Fraser:

Black men stood out. They held 14 named executive jobs in 2020. And by 2022, they held 19. So they went up by five. Some of those folks moved up even within that group of the upper echelon. Jessica interviewed Calvin Butler and Chris Womack, who had been promoted to CEO jobs at energy companies in the last few months. That makes them two of just four Black CEOs in America's biggest companies. The others are Marvin Ellison of Lowe's and Rosalind Brewer of Walgreens. So this reflects what we found among named executives as a whole too, right? Men outnumber women even within the same racial and ethnic categories.

Taylor Wilson:

Yes. So let's talk more about that. In general, how are corporations doing with getting women into executive ranks and how has this changed over time, if at all?

Jayme Fraser:

So they're not doing great. Overall, men outnumber women five to one among named executives, right? Five to one. Pretty big gap. But the gap is even bigger for Hispanic women and Latinas, who held less than 1% of these top jobs, even though they're something like 9% of the US workforce.

Taylor Wilson:

Staggering. Jayme, what did you find was the most effective strategy in making these corporate ranks more diverse?

Jayme Fraser:

So I think there are challenges across the whole spectrum from hiring, to retention, to company culture, but it kind of starts in the big picture. If we take a step back a bit, the moral and ethical reasons that disparities are bad are pretty obvious. People get that. But what corporate leaders and investors are seeing from research is that it's not just a moral issue, it's a business one. Companies that are more diverse, perform better. Yet what folks told us is that too many company leaders see diversity as something to do on this side. Instead of a priority that should be at the core of their business strategy, it's something that gets relegated to HR and it's not included in the strategic goals that are set for top company brass like these named executive officers.

So some companies have started to tie executive bonuses to diversity and inclusion goals. Investors are asking more questions about diversity metrics when deciding where to put their money. Representation, seeing someone like you matters on an individual level if you're deciding whether or not to go for an opportunity or whether you could be seen as qualified for one. But really those structural changes inside a company's culture and definitions of who is equipped to lead are really crucial to making changes. And like any business goal, if you want better outcomes, you need better systems.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Jayme Fraser is an investigative data journalist for USA TODAY. Jayme, great insight on all of this. Thanks so much.

Jayme Fraser:

Absolutely. Have a good day.

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Taylor Wilson:

Raquel Welch has died. The actress and Hollywood's sex symbol had a half century career spanning across 30 films and 50 television appearances, and she won a Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy or musical for her role in 1975's The Three Musketeers. Celebrities remembered her yesterday, including Reese Witherspoon who tweeted, "She was elegant, professional, and glamorous beyond belief. Simply stunning. May all her angels carry her home." Born Jo Raquel Tejada, she died yesterday after a brief illness. She was 82.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning of the week right here wherever you get your podcast. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Diversity in corporate America, Raquel Welch dead at 82: 5 Things podcast