I couldn’t agree more with xbox’s comments. The point of taxes is to presumably improve society- economically, socially, etc by pooling the citizens’ resources and using it to provide things they can’t purchase or provide individually (like freeways, an army, an organized judicial system). Taxing income probably slightly discourages the incentive to earn. Taxing wealth discourages the incentive to save. Both of these behaviors are good for society as a whole, so why discourage them? Utility taxes disincentive actions that hurt society, like smoking, drinking, polluting.
The main distinction I would make to disqualify your air example is that utility taxes target behavior that is freely chosen by the individual. If you choose to pollute extra in order to increase revenue in a production process, you damage society and should have to pay for it. It is a choice with consequences you should pay for. Breathing is not.