Find room to consider exhortations on the upcoming U.S. Census alongside the usual claims about every election being “the most important of your lifetime.”

We can trot that out without blushing because every election and every census should feel like the most important in the lifetime of members of a democratic society with any kind of forward view.

We’re looking forward now, because the federal government is well underway on preparations for its decennial national headcount.

And we’ll say it: The U.S. census in 2020 will be the most important ever for Los Angeles in general and our community of business specifically.

Census data forms the bases for myriad decisions in the private and public sectors, often with cross over.

Take public spending on infrastructure, which might be informed by any number of data points drawn from the census. The prospects for construction firms might be lifted or deflated based on how much or little the feds spend here.

Federal resources for police or fire services could make a difference on quality of life here – and the community of business needs all the quality it can get in that department if it hopes to remain competitive for top talent in the global marketplace.

There’s certainly reason enough for concern as the Trump Administration plans to add a question about citizenship status to the census. The line of inquiry was left out of the 2000 and 2010 censuses but included in the annual American Community Survey, which attempts to make updated deductions about various particulars of the nation’s population from a much smaller sampling.

There are practical reasons for leaving questions about citizenship out of the census. They are implied inquiries about immigration status for tens of millions of individuals in this country legally or illegally.

This is not to engage rhetoric on immigration from any angle, or policy proposals from any point of view. This is offered instead as common-sense reminder that questions from government agents – in this case census takers or even census forms – are likely to tempt millions of respondents to lie or move into our society’s shadows.

Both reactions would be understandable – and that’s not necessarily to say excusable – on a basic, humanistic level.

Here’s something else that’s basic: it’s a safe assumption, in any case, that Los Angeles has more illegal or undocumented denizens per capita than any other market in the U.S.

The question about citizenship status means we stand to be undercounted to the greatest degree – faulty data that will last 10 years.

The ink is nowhere near dry on the 2020 Census – the preliminary plans of the Trump Administration notwithstanding.

The Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce, which relies on the U.S. House of Representatives for funding.

That’s where concerns should be voiced – and the community of business has as much reason as anyone to make a call on this one.