Mikal Steers - 2008 Deputy Tax Hiker of the Year

As 2008 comes to a close, we take the time to bestow an honor upon one of this county's greatest tax hikers. Deputy Sheriff Mikal Steers deserves special mention for his inspiring efforts to raise our Hamilton County taxes. A true disciple of our great Sheriff Simon Leis, Steers has lobbied, organized, attacked, and threatened to try to get his way.

Due to his tireless work to raise our taxes, we proudly award Mikal Steers our 2008 Deputy Tax Hiker of the Year. We think this title fits him perfectly. He is in fact a deputy for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department. And by designating him as a Deputy Tax Hiker, we make sure this doesn't in any way diminish Virgil Lovitt's 2008 Tax Hiker of the Year award. Our dear friend Virg worked very hard to earn that award and nothing should ever take away his accomplishment.

We first profiled Deputy Steers in September when he publicly implored the Commissioners to once again disregard the voters and implement a Sales Tax increase. His work did not stop there. When the Commissioners held 3 public hearings on the budget, Steers organized his fellow deputies to show up in force to these meetings. Together, they pleaded for higher taxes and lobbied, insulted, and threatened all who would not raise taxes.

An Enquirer writeup of the final budget hearing quoted Deputy Steers threatening the Commissioners, "We all vote. We all have families and friends who vote. If you fail to act and put our officers on the unemployment line, I and every other man and woman in this room will vote to make sure you join us in the unemployment line next November."

Steers is right to do this. By not disobeying the voters, we will have a crime wave like we've never seen before. Murderers will be turned loose immediately. Nobody will serve their sentences. Crime will run rampant.

We know they told us this would happen if Issue 27 failed. It failed, and as a result crime decreased in 2008 and we've had even less early releases (prior to closing Queensgate) than we had the last couple years. But this time they mean it! If we don't do what they say and raise taxes soon, we will have the worst crime crisis ever. We know we said the same thing last year and it didn't happen, but we were just playing around then. We're serious this time.