The history of government is a chronicle of the quest for more revenues. It was so in ancient Sumer, and it is so today in my own City of Orange.

Two weeks ago, the Orange Council voted 4-1 to adopt an ordinance compelling property owners to serve as informants for city revenuers:

"Any person and/or his or her agent owning, leasing, subleasing or managing commercial  property located 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 the 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."

The easier to levy a business license tax on them.

Only Councilman Denis Bilodeau voted against it.

Tonight is the council's second reading of the proposed ordinance, and hopefully at least more councilmembers will come to their sense and vote against it. When the City Clerk reads the proposed ordinance, it ought to be accompanied by The Beatles' song "Taxman."

This part of a big push by the City of Orange to squeeze ever more revenue out of anyone who does any business in the City of Orange -- regardless of whether you actually live or even physically work in the city.

The city manager's weekly newsletter characterized this a "providing a solid, professional approach to licensing businesses within our City."

What it constitutes is a more thorough, invasive effort by city government to track down anyone doing any kind of businesses in Orange and demanding they pay for the privilege by rendering due tribute to city coffers.

Consider the the language above of who will have to pay business license taxes: if you have a P.O. Box at a UPS store in Orange, the UPS store will have to turn you over to city revenuers. There's no requirement that your business actually be located in Orange.

The ordinance even covers "virtual space." Presumably that means any business renting space on a server in Orange will have to pay for a business license.

Does "virtual space" cover the thousands of businesses registered in the CAMM NET online procurement system of the Orange County Transportation Authority - which is located in Orange? They're doing business in Orange, after all -- even if it's "virtually."

Heck, if one simply opens a business checking account at a bank in Orange, one is required to pay the business license tax. This new ordinance would require the bank to turn you in to the city revenuers.

That may sound like a stretch, but the City of Orange is currently rifling through Franchise Tax Board records in search for Orange residents who've been issued a 1099 -- and non-Orange residents who've been issued a 1099 by an Orange business. The city then sends you the business license form and asks that you pay up.

Is this how the City of Orange wants to present itself?

Tonight the Orange City Council has an opportunity to shift gears and reverse city government increasingly invasive search for businesses to tax. First, the Council can defeat this proposed ordinance.

Next, the Council should look at how to wean city government off the business license tax. There's no compelling reason anyone should have to pay a fee in order to conduct business in Orange.