I used to be in favor of reducing income inequality, but then I realized the problem is not that people make too much money but that they spend it. Consumerism is overblown, which is part of why the economy makes it so difficult to live car free. 'Taking funding from cars' doesn't actually work unless the people you pay the money to don't use it for driving. What we have is an economy that demands driving as part of the rat race, for the most part, so many people won't make the sacrifices it takes to live car free unless their income-potential is limited and going car-free causes them to have more disposable income than they would have by driving to a higher paying job (or two jobs) for more hours.

I agree with you that we end up having to spend money on infrastructure for alternative transportation because that's the only option for getting it within the paradigm of spending-based public projects. A better system, however, would simply require such infrastructure be built as part of any development or repaving project. According to the US constitution, you can't take land without compensating the owner but you can pay prisoners less than minimum wage so by using existing right-of-way and prisoner labor, you can expand alternative transportation infrastructure without boosting GDP and thus the rat race's ability to push driving on everyone.