If my company offered to reward me with a brand new car I might not be able to accept it because of the requirement to pay the taxes - but I wouldn't think that

If my company offered to reward me with a brand new car I might not be able to accept it because of the requirement to pay the taxes - but I wouldn't think that the tax man was being unreasonable. I don't really understand why you'd expect the tax code to allow you to receive options tax free? If they have a fair market value then receiving them as part of comp should be taxed as such.