Will Orange Turn Landlords Into Informants?
Posted by: Jubal | 03/26/2008 3:57 PM
The Orange City Council last night approved an ordinance that conscripts property owners into becoming informants for the city's business license division:
This is wrong on several different levels.
First, it is not the job of property owners to ferret out businesses so the city can tax them. According to the city staff report, some property owners and managers "have been reluctant to provide such information" to the city revenuers, and so the city staff want an ordinance to force them to do so.
Secondly, look at the breadth of the ordinance. Mail boxes? Virtual space? I'm sure UPS store managers will appreciate the city''s proposed addition to their job responsibilities.
The staff report complains that business license inspectors have to spend a lot of time keeping track of all the businesses they have to "license" -- i.e. tax -- and it would so much easier on them if the city just forced property owners to do that job for them.
I have a suggestion for my council representatives: abolish business licensing. Let's face it, it's tax masquerading as a fee, and it exists purely to generate general fund revenue. The notion that the city does any licensing is ridiculous. Every year I get the license form, and every year I check a box and send it in with a check (and in Orange, the license fee is progressive -- the higher your revenues, the higher the license fee). That's the extent of my business interaction with the City of Orange.
If we abolish the business license, then we won't need business license inspectors, thereby solving the problem of their inconveniencing by recalcitrant property owners and managers. City government should be more concerned about the convenience of city residents and businesses, not just wringing more revenue out of them and making life more convenient for city staff.
"Any person and/or his or her agent owning, leasing, subleasing or managing commercial property locate within the City, including those exempt from paying a business license tax, shall, upon the request of the Business Services Coordinator, provide the City with names and addresses of all persons who lease or sublease suites, units, mailboxes or other space including virtual space, or who are otherwise occupants of such commercial property or use such commercial property for their business location."Yikes. And amazingly, this actually passed the city council of my conservative home town on a 4-1 vote, Denis Bilodeau being the lone "no" vote. Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, Mayor Pro Tem Jon Dumitru, and Councilmembers Mark Murphy and Tita Smith voted in favor of making property owners do the work of the city's business license inspectors.
This is wrong on several different levels.
First, it is not the job of property owners to ferret out businesses so the city can tax them. According to the city staff report, some property owners and managers "have been reluctant to provide such information" to the city revenuers, and so the city staff want an ordinance to force them to do so.
Secondly, look at the breadth of the ordinance. Mail boxes? Virtual space? I'm sure UPS store managers will appreciate the city''s proposed addition to their job responsibilities.
The staff report complains that business license inspectors have to spend a lot of time keeping track of all the businesses they have to "license" -- i.e. tax -- and it would so much easier on them if the city just forced property owners to do that job for them.
I have a suggestion for my council representatives: abolish business licensing. Let's face it, it's tax masquerading as a fee, and it exists purely to generate general fund revenue. The notion that the city does any licensing is ridiculous. Every year I get the license form, and every year I check a box and send it in with a check (and in Orange, the license fee is progressive -- the higher your revenues, the higher the license fee). That's the extent of my business interaction with the City of Orange.
If we abolish the business license, then we won't need business license inspectors, thereby solving the problem of their inconveniencing by recalcitrant property owners and managers. City government should be more concerned about the convenience of city residents and businesses, not just wringing more revenue out of them and making life more convenient for city staff.
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Politics Behind the Orange Curtain
Mr. Ayer registered as a Republican to be electable in an interim election with no incumbents. He did...
"I have a suggestion for my council representatives: abolish business licensing."
While it could be argued that some businesses actually consume city resources and thus should be taxed, er, licensed, many, if not most businesses - especially small ones - do nothing of the kind. The tax is nothing but a legitimized revenue grab. The City of Fullerton adds insult to injury by slapping on an administrative fee to process their own lame license tax!
BTW, I believe the County does the same thing to landlords - in order to tag businesses with a property tax bill.
Interesting that 3 of those listed as in favor are very hard core conservatives.....Perhaps there is more to this story then what Bilodeau has screamed from a hill like "chicken Little".
"Interesting that 3 of those listed as in favor are very hard core conservatives"
Ahem - those so-called "hard-core coonservative" credentials just took it in the shorts.
Why is anyone surprised. Orange as well as most cities, require property owners to provide a list of all contractors that worked on the job before they give final inspection. Once they have the names, all contractors are required to get a city license. The property owner is held hostage until the license fees are paid.
This has been going on for many years.
But isn't Mayor Carolyn Cavecche "Woman of the Year"? Doesn't that make up for taxing small businesses?
But isn't Mayor Carolyn Cavecche "Woman of the Year"? Doesn't that make up for taxing small businesses?