You should turn that around: if getting people off the road is something you really care about then make it pay.

I take no position on which mode of transportation is preferable for others to take (though I have my own preferences, to be sure).

Where I come from, taxes are comparatively low. So it's weird to see people talking about them influencing their behavior so significantly. That's a lot of power the government has... I'd rather keep my money than let bureaucrats spend it to manipulate the public's behavior.

Taxes spent on building roads presumably significant influence your behavior.

Taxing cars puts the cost of those roads more directly on the users of them.

I'm not talking about building infrastructure or paying directly for things that cost money for the government to do, I'm talking about market manipulation.

Wait till you discover how capitalists manipulate markets...