HTML doesn't support the necessary features. Citations in various formats, footnotes, references to automatically numbered figures and tables, I could go on and on.
HTML could certainly be extended to support those, but it hasn't been. That's why we're talking about this.
Did you fully read my comment? Please point me to where HTML/CSS provide the features I listed.
It doesn't really matter if HTML/CSS is more powerful at a hundred other layout things, if it doesn't provide the absolute necessary features for papers.
Citations need to generate reference lists. Footnotes require automatic placement at the bottom of each page. Your examples of numbered tables are numbering the rows, not the tables. And figure numbers need to be referenced in the text.
None of what you're pointing to does what academic papers need. Why are you trying to push this agenda?
HTML doesn't support the necessary features. Citations in various formats, footnotes, references to automatically numbered figures and tables, I could go on and on.
HTML could certainly be extended to support those, but it hasn't been. That's why we're talking about this.