Yes this is true in NZ - property taxes here ("rates") pay for roads, water, street lighting, that sort of thing. Not schools, police, or other stuff done by ce

Yes this is true in NZ - property taxes here ("rates") pay for roads, water, street lighting, that sort of thing. Not schools, police, or other stuff done by central govt. Also property taxes here are not tied directly to house valuations - there's a fixed component, plus a component that's calculated from your valuation divided by the sum of the valuations of ALL the properties in the city. That means that if everyone's valuations are doubled your taxes don't change, if your house value goes up faster than the average you do pay more, if it goes up more slowly your taxes go down.