Chicago's Mayor Daley is raising the sticker fees for SUVs because he claims the heavier vehicles cause more wear and tear on the roads, reports the Sun Times.

For the last month, budget director Bill Abolt has argued that SUVs should be required to pay more to erase a deficit in the fund used to repair city streets because "heavier vehicles place more wear and tear on the roads."

Earlier this week, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that engineering and transportation experts were poking holes in that argument.

They insisted that roads are typically designed for heavy trucks that weigh "at least double" if not 10 times what an SUV does. They argued that there is virtually no difference between the road damage caused by SUVs and passenger cars.

This isn't about wear and tear caused by SUVs, it's about class warfare. Anti-SUV laws are the next great crusade right behind smoking and fast food. Notice that the anti-SUV crowd has pretty much left minivans and passenger, which are just as heavy and polluting, alone. Of course minivans conjure up images of soccer moms and wholesome American goodness, whereas SUVs are identified with the selfish yuppie class and the hated "rich".