@leaverou I'm somebody who puts a focus on JS-less web development and I not only create SVG assets with Inkscape but also write SVG myself, both static and templated and I think it's the same reason why HTML didn't see any big developments in over 2 decades…
Google has a controlling interest on the web and Google wants everything to depend on JS because that's what their data collection (i.e. profits) are based on.