[jen20]

The difference is what that funds. In the UK, council tax is intended to fund things like rubbish removal. In the US, property tax funds schools. Other taxes make up for the low “property” tax in the UK (property in quotes because renters pay it directly too - it is an occupancy tax not an ownership tax)

[sampo]

Property taxes should be relative high, so the city gets their part of the increasing land value when the city grows. So that land owners get to collect only a small-ish part of the windfall of the increased value.

It is, after all, the city that made the land more valuable by building more city around it.

[C1sc0cat]

Funds the council in general

[jen20]

Which deal with things like rubbish removal - UK councils are MUCH more limited in scope than US cities.