[ClumsyPilot]

> house ownership is just a legal construct

Stange argument, all rights are legal contructs - how do I know my employer will pay me for work done, or my neighbour won't rob be in my sleep and slit my neck?

If we don't trust legal constructs, we can't have a civilisation.

[throw8383833jj]

You can trust them, that's not the point. the point is, you can keep your pen or your calculator without having to pay rent on them. You can't keep your land/house unless you pay rent on it to the govt. Considering that all humans require shelter to continue living (surprising: the homeless in the US die 30 yrs younger than the average), a case can be made that property taxes for a minimum amount of land necessary to live are unreasonable. otherwise it's a tax on life

[ak217]

That case doesn't work because the property taxes mostly fund essential local services that are also necessary to live and have a functioning society - there are many locales in the US where the property taxes are zero but there are no improvements or people around you.