Business licensing has always been a way to limit competition. It was began, way back when, by the guilds, today licensing laws are mainly pushed by the Chambers of Commerce. Of course the cities and states make money from the tax charged for the license but the main beneficiary is those that are already in business . . . less competition.

Its even worse than that when you have to clear all improvements, color choices, signs etc for approval. This pretty much equals they tell you what the outside of your property will look like.