alt Hacker NewsInteresting system to compare here in Switzerland. They've never had a property tax. However they did have a tax where they calculate the putative rent you could get for your property and tax you on that income (that you don't really have). So basically a property tax.
But they just repealed that system so no more property tax but you can also no longer deduct mortgage interest from your taxes. So now the system favors people that don't have loans.
That with laws against foreigners buying property (most of Switzerland - not in some economically under devised areas though) the hope is the cost of housing will go down.
In the US land property taxes are essentially use taxes that pay for the maintenance of infrastructure that supports the property. This is why rural property taxes are very low -- there is no infrastructure that needs to be maintained that would justify the tax. Use taxes are broadly efficient.
If land property taxes were wealth taxes then you'd be able to deduct e.g. mortgage debt when applying the tax rate.
In this regard, property taxes in the US largely make sense.