It seems to be the general opinion that tables should not be used for layout in HTML.

Why?

I have never (or rarely to be honest) seen good arguments for this. The usual answers are:

• It's good to separate content from layout
  But this is a fallacious argument; Cliche Thinking. I guess it's true that using the table element for layout has little to do with tabular data. So what? Does my boss care? Do my users care?
  
  Perhaps me or my fellow developers who have to maintain a web page care... Is a table less maintainable? I think using a table is easier than using divs and CSS.
  
  By the way... why is using a div or a span good separation of content from layout and a table not? Getting a good layout with only divs often requires a lot of nested divs.

• Readability of the code
  I think it's the other way around. Most people understand html, few understand CSS.

• It's better for SEO not to use tables
  Why? Can anybody show some evidence that it is? Or a statement from Google that tables are discouraged from an SEO perspective?

• Tables are slower.
  An extra tbody element has to be inserted. This is peanuts for modern web browsers. Show me some benchmarks where the use of a table significantly slows down a page.

• A layout overhaul is easier without tables, see css Zen Garden.
  Most web sites that need an upgrade need new content (html) as well. Scenarios where a new version of a web site only needs a new CSS file are not very likely. Zen Garden is a nice web site, but a bit theoretical. Not to mention its misuse of CSS.

I am really interested in good arguments to use divs + CSS instead of tables.