[CWuestefeld]

pay 2% of its value in taxes/year? In a mere 50 years

<pedantic> More like 36 years. </pedantic>

There's a quick trick to a good approximation for this. The rule of 72 says that you can estimate the time it takes a compounded investment to double by dividing the interest rate by 72. 2% for 36 years will double the investment (or, since your actual statement was going the other way, strip it to nothing)

See, for example, https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/what-is-the-rule-72...

[ves]

There’s no compounding here, since the property tax is a fee and not a reduction in the value of the asset, so I don’t think that’s applicable.

[xxpor]

It's not a direct reduction in value, but I would think if the fee went away the value would still increase.

[pesfandiar]

That's for compound interest. In this case, assuming the value of house stays the same, it does indeed take 50 payments of 2% of the total value until you've paid the full price back to the government.

[wolco]

Assessed value which is usually lower than market value.