Massachusetts Question 1

[Citizen Hats]

NO. 

transitioning away from the carbon economy is best done by hiking the cost of carboniferous fuels.  A gas tax covers a lot of that, not to mention that it helps pay for the roads which are massively subsidized, to the detriment of a lot of public life. 

If you're worried about the distributional effects, do what BC did and send a income-based rebate to low-income households, rather than insist on yet more subsidies for everyone's 1500 pound private vehicle. 

[Citizen Hats]

But experience simply doesn't bear that out. British Columbia has lowered emissions since 2009 with no observable effects on growth, with the revenues plowed into income tax cuts and low-income rebates.

People adjust their lives, as strange as it may sound. They drive less, they take transit, they decide not to move out to suburbia. It doesn't happen overnight, but people adjust their lives around costs. They demand more transit options from their government. 

Canada didn't achieve high transit ridership in a day