In virtually every service profession, there are basic, minimum standards for suitability,” said Williams, who led the regulatory overhaul. Most barbers and hair stylists must pass some suitability test. “You will see those licenses on the wall,” he said, while tax preparers, who face no such requirements in most states, have access to an individual’s “most intimate financial information.

Tax prepares brace for new IRS fees, rules - The Washington Post

It is possible to rationalize a license for any job this way.  Barbers wield sharp scissors around your head … we need to license them.  Tax preparers get access to your financial information.  A chef prepares something you ingest.  The furniture mover takes possession of all of your things.  The cable man comes into the house of strangers.  The mechanic fixes a car that will be hurtling down the street.  Is there any job you can’t rationalize a license for?  And is it any wonder that some people are left jobless with all of these barriers to entry?

(via jeffmiller)

I think the most idiotic example of this I’ve come across is licensing interior designers.