Tax: ongoing payment to offset recurring operating expenses (OpEx) like staffing and maintenance in schools, courts, recreational sites and infrastructure, in a defined region of resource consolidation (village, town, city, county, riding, province, country) and recurring payments to service and reduce debt from bonds and loans. If it needs cleaning, trimming, painting, replenishing, or ongoing care, it’ll be paid-for through ongoing taxation as a recurring payment for a recurring cost.
Bond: a loan from the citizenry to fund capital expenses (CapEx) and projects; like infrastructure replacement or expansion, area clean-up and remediation/restoration. These are paid back with interest, using tax proceeds. If it’s adding or replacing something with a set lifespan, and its scope is large enough to warrant a project or cost large enough not to be absorbed in regular maintenance, then its lump cost will be offset with bonds.
It becomes easier to see how, for instance, building out rail transit or growing a charging network with gasoline taxes instead of bonds, is weird. It’s easier to spot when recurring costs get bonded out instead of offset by taxes. It’s obvious when a regional government sells an asset and rents it back that it’s going to be a bad idea.
We can start just saying ‘methane’ now. We don’t need to ‘green-wash’ it like it’s not killing our air.