1. If there is to be any infrastructure repair, especially regarding large scale public transportation, taxes will likely pay for it. Or at least taxes are the best match to assure that public transportation is genuinely public. Somebody somewhere is likely to figure out how to make a profit on “public” transportation. That will not yield the green results we need, of moving LOTS of people to affordable motion. Public transportation, the only legitimate alternative to the automobile, requires public support.
2. Taxes join public responsibility with personal responsibility. One of the great divisions of the culture wars involves a separation of those who think we are publicly responsible for our various messes and those who think we are privately responsible for them. Environmental solutions will only come from a joint effort of public responsibility tied to private responsibility. We will pay....