Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility and that tax hits the poorest the hardest making it harder to keep that car. It's effectively

Because a car in America is fairly essential for upward mobility and that tax hits the poorest the hardest making it harder to keep that car. It's effectively rent-seeking for a low-level good without taking into account usage. They can't scale back usage to reduce that tax. It just is. Compare it to similar rent-seeking taxes on land ownership (i.e. property taxes), which affect wealthier people more able to afford the tax. I know when I was a college student, affording the registration and bare-bone insurance payments on my 25 year old honda was actually pretty non-trivial. If I couldn't afford gas on a particular month, I could find creative ways to ride-share / take public transit (sometimes) / not drive / etc. But that didn't do ANYTHING to my registration payment.