“Obviously, with similar applicants with the only difference being a good test score, you’ll choose the applicant with the test score over the one without.”
Well you are kind of backtracking there, you said you wouldn’t get hurt if you didn’t submit a test, and now you’re saying you could.
And you can definitely hire tutors for classes, like many do here in the bay area, they actually spend on both test prep and tutors, so if you take away money for test prep, it’ll go into more tutors, help on essays, more ECs.
Your high school peers will determine whether you take a test or not, not the college policy.