My understanding of European feudalism (which is sparse, and comes from https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XTAXZAU/ ) is that it is characterized by the following features:
- The owner of land owns it outright. If you own land, you don't pay taxes on it to anyone. It's yours.
- Ownership of land is inalienable. Your land is yours, and you can't sell it or otherwise transfer ownership (except through inheritance).
- Land generates revenue through the collection of dues from peasants who would like to work it.
- The feudal dues associated with a stretch of land are fixed by tradition and, like the ownership of the land, can't be changed. This is why European peasant reform movements emphasized stable measurement units so heavily -- since lords couldn't change the nominal amount of feudal dues, changes were actually implemented by messing with the size of the units those dues were measured in.
- The king has no tax authority. He gets his revenue from the land he owns, just like every other noble does.
It is a radically decentralized system, even for the rest of the world at the time, and it reflects the very low level of societal development in feudal Europe.
The US property tax system is nothing like this. The government owns ALL the land, and no one else can ever own any. The government has tax authority over the land and many other things.
The proposition 13 system does look like it's trying to move things in the direction of feudalism, as far as I can see. It's even trying to make sure land can't be sold, in that when you sell your land, all the tax benefits are lost.
The owner of land owns it outright. If you own land, you don't pay taxes on it to anyone. It's yours.
Generally, nobles held land under "feudal tenure" and not "allodial tenure" (the latter is "outright" ownership). Under feudal tenure, the noble did not owe taxes but they did owe "service" which they could try to make up with goods and money instead.
The service was onerous. Generally, showing up with a sword and shield and an army fitting your station.
Along with the main service there could be many more specific services. One example of many: in the present day, there is a noble family in England that is required to set out three glasses of Brandy or Cognac or another strong spirit on a certain holiday, so that the reigning monarch may come by and drink them if she so chooses.
> The US property tax system is nothing like this. The government owns ALL the land, and no one else can ever own any. The government has tax authority over the land and many other things.
Just a quibble, but, with the exception of federal lands, it's the individual states that levy property tax in their territory. Allodial title is what it's called when you have no obligations on the property. Nevada allowed limited allodial title, but it only lasts for the life of the owner. The way the implemented it was they computed an estimated total property tax and the owner would buy out the state's interest for his lifetime[1]. It actually provides additional privileges besides property tax exemption. Liens can't be enforced on an allodium, among other privileges.
> The holder of an allodial title can voluntarily relinquish it at any time. The title shall be relinquished if the property is sold, leased or transferred by the allodial title holder; the allodial title holder no longer occupies the dwelling for 150 days; or the home is converted to anything other than a single-family dwelling occupied by the owner.
For having "no obligations on the property", those are some pretty substantial obligations.
- The owner of land owns it outright. If you own land, you don't pay taxes on it to anyone. It's yours.
- Ownership of land is inalienable. Your land is yours, and you can't sell it or otherwise transfer ownership (except through inheritance).
- Land generates revenue through the collection of dues from peasants who would like to work it.
- The feudal dues associated with a stretch of land are fixed by tradition and, like the ownership of the land, can't be changed. This is why European peasant reform movements emphasized stable measurement units so heavily -- since lords couldn't change the nominal amount of feudal dues, changes were actually implemented by messing with the size of the units those dues were measured in.
- The king has no tax authority. He gets his revenue from the land he owns, just like every other noble does.
It is a radically decentralized system, even for the rest of the world at the time, and it reflects the very low level of societal development in feudal Europe.
The US property tax system is nothing like this. The government owns ALL the land, and no one else can ever own any. The government has tax authority over the land and many other things.
The proposition 13 system does look like it's trying to move things in the direction of feudalism, as far as I can see. It's even trying to make sure land can't be sold, in that when you sell your land, all the tax benefits are lost.