Both the $myVar assignment in line 1 and the $higher assignment in line 2
are dead. The first because $myVar is never used and the second because
$higher is always overwritten for every possible time line.
The strict comparison !== seems to always evaluate to true as the types of $static['counter'] (string) and 0 (integer) can never be identical. Maybe you want to use a loose comparison != instead?
This check looks for variable assignements that are either overwritten by other assignments or where the variable is not used subsequently.
Both the
$myVarassignment in line 1 and the$higherassignment in line 2 are dead. The first because$myVaris never used and the second because$higheris always overwritten for every possible time line.