The war of words continues on the millionaires tax, with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, late this afternoon rapping Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ criticism of the surcharge’s revival.

The moral imperative is that Senator Skelos stand up for 99 percent of the taxpayers, not the 1 percent he’s protecting who are millionaires and multi-millionaires about to get yet another tax windfall in six months. I encourage the Senator and his colleagues to think about the teachers who are getting laid off, about what is best for the education of our children, what is best for our seniors, and what is best for our working families. This is the real moral imperative, not tax breaks for the super-rich.

Skelos earlier declared the tax “dead” in a statement and told reporters the debate is over.

“I don’t think taxing and now increasing spending is necessary,” he said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also said he thought the issue was laid to rest, after it was not included in the state budget. The governor wanted to close the $10 billion deficit in the 2011-12 budget without new taxes or new borrowing.

“We’ve reined in state spending. We now have to rein in local government and school district spending,” he said in Lake Placid. “And I think the message is communicated and I think you saw that in a lot of these school district budgets.”

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