Your car travels almost exclusively on very expensive public roads and highways. License fees are used to help fund those roads. Many states have provisions to allow unlicensed vehicles on private property.

Also, cars in poor operating condition are dangerous and polluting. Many states have some combination of safety and/or emissions inspections as part of licensing.

Many states, especially where there are photo ID requirements, so offer free photo IDs. And pretty well every form I’ve filled out has been no more than a page in my state.