Yesterday’s Times report that Speaker Sheldon Silver has reintroduced the “millionaire tax” as a standalone bill may qualify as the dog-bites-man, non-news story of the year from the State Capitol.Silver and his conference already voted in favor of extending the tax as part of their one-house budget bill in March, and while the adopted budget closed a $10 billion budget gap without tax increases, Assembly Demorats have promised to keep pressing for an extension of higher rates on incomes above $1 million, even though both Governor Cuomo and the Senate have ruled it out. Reintroducing the millionaire tax as a separate measure is an obvious political ploy, possibly linked to this week’s post-school-budget victory lap gloom-and-doom campaign swing by the New York State United Teachers and their partners in the Alliance for Quality Education.Meanwhile, here is some real news of interest to all taxpayers, especially middle-income workers: State Senate Republican leaders have introduced a bill that would, for the first time, link New York’s personal income tax to inflation, halting the stealth tax hikes I wrote about last month. No Assembly counterpart yet, but a good first nonetheless.

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