This was a bad move all around. The lunacy and insanity of Albany politics just boggles the mind.

ANOTHER ALBANY OBSCENITY
Remember when Oprah gave everyone in her audience a free car - only to hear them howl in outrage once they realized they’d owe extra to the IRS that year?

That’s not so different from what Albany just pulled on New York homeowners - minus the free car.

Tossing New Yorkers some paltry crumbs, Gov. Pataki and the Legislature coyly plotted to mail home “School Tax Relief” (STAR) rebate checks just as Election Day neared.

But there’s a problem.

As Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker reported last week, the rebates will cause more than a million New Yorkers to owe more taxes. For those who itemize returns, these “rebates” are subject to city, state and federal taxes.

Not that the mailings will explain this. As a legislative staffer said, “It wasn’t really something we wanted to have out there.”

What they did want out there was a pat on their own backs for giving taxpayers some of their own money back. In fact, this was so important they actually stopped the printing presses (costing God-only-knows how much) when somebody noticed that the checks somehow neglected to mention Pataki and the Legislature.

Now, instead of knowing whom to thank, New York homeowners know whom to blame for their tax obligations climbing yet higher.

Yes, since Albany made the rebates so infinitesimal - $57 for Gothamites - the increased tax obligation is rather small. But the whole episode is still insulting.

With a per-capita tax rate of $5,260 and a state budgeting process that makes Enron look like a paragon of fiscal probity, New York lawmakers clearly think little of voters’ intelligence if this rebate gambit is meant to improve their image.

Come to think of it, $40 - $57 less taxes, roughly - is just enough to buy a round of drinks. Just what it may take to get voters through Election Day.