I submit a hypothetical scenario:
A person owns land, and on that land a home. Neither are mortgaged, all are owned outright. The land is sufficient that said person farm it and provide for all their food needs. As for their electricity, assume that there are either or both wind turbines and solar panels in enough quantity to provide for any reasonable electrical usage.
Now, here comes the kicker: assume for the moment that the home (and the land it sits on) are nice enough that you'd want to live there. You'd not feel like a third world subsistence farmer... it could be a pleasant enough life.
Such a home will undoubtedly be assessed for an astronomical sum. I would think a goodly fraction of $1 million. (And, if the nature of the home and land are reduced such that the assessment is significantly lowered, the home becomes less desireable.)
What are the philosophical justifications for such a property tax?
The person working this farm, they would have zero income, year to year. If they take a regular job to pay the property taxes, they'll soon find they don't have enough time to work the farm. Which means they have to earn yet more money, to pay for groceries that they used to provide for themselves.
An alternative, trying to sell what the farm produces, to make that property tax... this is problematic. A bad year, they lose their farm to the state. Not to mention that the farm has to be yet larger, and mechanized, to produce an excess for sale.
Still more problematic, with either solution, the person now has an income, and might be liable for taxes on that, too.
Considering all this, just what about such a property tax would be justifiable? Is it more justifiable if for some reason the assessor considers all of this, and lowers the property tax? If the system is slanted such that the described lifestyle is impossible, what does that say about the system? What does that say about our feelings regarding such a lifestyle?
Also, an afterthought. I am aware of a few states that have no income tax (and quite likely many more would have no filing requirements were you to have no income)... but are there any where property tax is either significantly lower than elsewhere, or altogether absent?