The idea behind property taxes dates back to when the peasants lived in the shadow of the castle. The Lord of the Castle got a bit of everything the peasant raised on his land, for two reasons. One, the land was never really the peasant's in the first place. It was always really still owned by the Lord of the Castle. The Lord was just letting the peasant use it for a while. At any time, the Lord of the Castle could ride out with his Knights in Armor and simply take the land back. The peasant knew this, and tried to keep the Lord of the Castle happy.

The second reason was really more important. The thing was, there were bandits out there that would raid your farm and take everything you had if you weren't protected by the Lord of the Castle. As long as you were near the Castle and protected by the Castle, the Lord, and his Knights, you had a degree of safety you wouldn't otherwise have.

I don't know how much of this is still valid in the modern era, but don't expect things to change any time soon. There are places where property taxes are a lot less. They're in other countries. The problem with going to one of these countries is that you'd better already be rich, as the reason the property taxes are so low there is because wages are low there too. Also these other countries don't always have the respect for private property that we enjoy here in the USA. It's not unheard of for the Lord of the Castle to ride out and simply take your property, or let someone else take it.

I'm no fan or property taxes, but I don't expect them to just go away.