Thanks. According to this, property taxes DID start in colonial times, in Taxachusetts, of course. Then the colonies turned into States and took over the practice.
I think such taxes are based on the idea that the State/gov't own owns all of the land and we are all just tenants on it. You don't actually own it because you have to pay property taxes to the real owner (the State), and if you fail to, they will repossess "your" land, so to speak.
But this idea that the government owns ALL of the land comes from the ridiculous practice of colonization. I have read how when the Spanish came to America they would claim all of the land in the name of the King of Spain. And then British colonists did the same for the king of England. How ridiculous is that? And then when the U.S. kicked out Britain, the U.S. government simply continued the practice of claiming land as it's own, and purchasing territories (which even Jefferson realized was unconstitutional, but was too good of a deal to pass up).
So now we just live like serfs on the land. I would think this is not practiced in every country. Some must have retained their original, "primitive" liberty of not having to pay someone for the right to live on their own land, no?