hippata2023

hippata2023 t1_jeg5n3b wrote

> Should students be allowed after-school allocations to run such a club?

While I would find the club repugnant, that doesn't mean I'd be in favor of banning it. I'm always shocked by "small government" conservatives advocating for the State to control what private people can do on their own time.

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hippata2023 t1_jea6aw5 wrote

I'm always amazed that people go with big brand insurers. I shopped around, went to all the big names, and they all had significantly higher prices than smaller, lesser-known companies. I ended up going with Travelers for home and auto, who came in significantly under all the big names.

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hippata2023 t1_jd0n0jl wrote

> They are horribly understaffed and underfunded. It's a real problem we need to address. > >

The department, sadly, never recovered from the massive 2016 layoffs at L&I. Not only that, but they're using antiquated systems because the last time they tried to update them, it blew up in their face and all over pennlive.

I don't know what people expect when the legislature doesn't want to fund people to answer phone calls.

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hippata2023 t1_jbhl03i wrote

That's bad information, which is surprising come from a law firm.

While joint assets will avoid probate, they're still subject to PA inheritance tax. My grandmother got nailed with this because she comingled (joint bank account) her monies with my aunt (my aunt had a long, hard road to death through severe dementia and multiple strokes). She did it because she found it easier to manage my aunt's estate while she was alive. When my aunt died, my grandmother was on the hook on paying tax on the half the balance of this account -- even though, by this time, most of the funds in the account were my grandmothers, not my aunt's. Yes, she was taxed on her own money.

Joint assets held by spouses will avoid the inheritance tax, but that's it. Only spouses.

Regarding irrevocable trusts, I researched this awhile ago and can't quite get back to it. While most states do observe irrevocable trusts as a way to avoid probate, PA is a weird one in that in order to do so, the trust has to meet certain conditions. 2 common conditions found in irrevocable trusts: the right to income and the right to change beneficiaries, will make the irrevocable trusts subject to inheritance tax, even if it avoids probate.

TL;DR: talk to an estate lawyer

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hippata2023 t1_jbhjj35 wrote

PA's death tax is insane. The lowest rate is 4.5% between direct descendants/lineal heirs (e.g. parents to kids) and there is no floor. If your parent's estate is greater than 0, you're going to owe 4.5% of whatever's there.

For context, the Fed's do it right: in order to be subject to it, the estate has to have be in excess of $12 million.

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hippata2023 t1_jb1qg5i wrote

> 3) A lot of new employees took paycuts to come to the state with the understanding that the cost saved from going to an office by teleworking would make up for it. These employees might leave for the private industry if they lose the one plus they had coming here.

So much this. My department's down about 20-30% workers since the start of COVID and most of those people left when it was told that they had to come in for some days in the office last year. Senior leadership is expecting another 20-30% to leave if we're forced to come for any amount of days.

That's a lot of workers to replace and not a lot of applicants coming in.

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hippata2023 t1_jb1p5hd wrote

I'd count on it. The move to go back to the office is coming directly from the governor. Some departments weren't aware of the 3-day mandate for senior leadership until they got the email. Bring in the senior leadership first and eventually everybody.

While Shapiro was running the OAG, they're the only department I'm aware of that never went remote. Shapiro just doesn't believe in remote working, unfortunately.

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hippata2023 t1_jaesjcn wrote

PA's handling of the education major is absurd. Students were petrified of being caught drinking underage (shocking!) because they were afraid of being found out and dismissed from their major.

There are just so many other professions that pay (substantially) more and demand far less. The only people who become teachers nowadays are the true zealots, and that population shrinks every year.

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hippata2023 t1_jaagmpp wrote

> “The policy is applicable to all County issued devices, including desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, cellular phones, or any other information processing asset— including any and all devices connected to the County of Lancaster network for the purpose of accessing County of Lancaster data or services.”

You're reading that too broadly. So long as the device itself doesn't connect to the County's network, it's not subject to this rule. So yes, you can still check email on your personal device and not worry about running afoul of this policy, so long as it's not connected to the network.

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