yeah but most people don't want to live in a townhouse/apartment
Sorry, but what is your point here? This is the same recycled “strongtowns” argument that they repeat endlessly.
Worst case, property taxes increase to help with local infrastructure.
You dismiss the "strongtowns" argument as if there is some consensus that it has been debunked, but I don't think there is such a consensus, so you'd need to support that claim.
Further, the worst case is not that property taxes increase, it is that other people, usually less fortunate, end up subsidizing them further through federal, state, and county funds, rather than their own local taxes.
The rich inner suburbs full of busybody jerks are unfortunately rich enough to almost certainly be self sustaining if they want to be. No starving that beast.