The Green Con

Is it just me or are there other people who think green taxes are just a good excuse to get more money out of us? Politics seems to have jumped on the eco-friendly band wagon and we are all being financially punished for our carbon curses like some big swear box. And like a swear box we feel in no position to argue - we know we are doing wrong by driving our polluting cars and by throwing away our tesco plastic bags so even if we feel we are being unfairly taxed and suspect that our money is not really being used for the furtherance of the green cause we don't feel in any position to protest. Very clever.
But the more I think about it the more I question just what these current policies will achieve (other than the obvious financial gain). For example cars are now taxed on their carbon emissions and my husband, with his 2001 high powered petrol car, will have to take out a small mortgage to tax it in the future. Whereas my car (yes, I admit, we are a sinful two car family) is a diesel and will cost me substantially less. But my husband barely uses his car and with the mileage he does his emissions must be minimal against the 300 miles of emissions I rack up on a weekly basis with my commute to work. Surely if the government was serious about reducing the impact of cars on the road they would be encouraging better public transport (with big free car parks next to stations and trains that aren't standing room only in rush hour). Or perhaps giving companies incentives to encourage working from home - just one day a week would radically decrease the traffic on the roads and may even help to solve some of the childcare issues we all face.
It doesn't take much to think of ways in which we could so easily make our lives more eco-friendly with a little help and incentive from the government, but it would be so much better if this help and incentive was constructive and focused on the end result rather than just using financial penalising as a quick way to help balance the treasury books.