Ignoring the confusion over "property tax" vs "land-value tax" I think your complaint about: > extremely relative value of property from region to region woul

Ignoring the confusion over "property tax" vs "land-value tax" I think your complaint about: > extremely relative value of property from region to region would apply equally to income tax and sales tax. Is there some other tax that you feel doesn't have high variance between regions? You did note: > It even dwarfs the relative difference in income taxes for similar jobs in dissimilar places It may be worth noting that Mississippi has a per-capita GDP of $40,000 (income per person), whereas New York State is $90,000 per person. The median home sale price in Mississippi is $163,600 whereas in New York (state) it is $336,000. It would appear that the ratio between incomes-actually-worked matches the ratio between homes-actually-lived-in. Each are a bit over twice as high in New York as in Mississippi. As an aside, one of the benefits of property tax (especially over sales tax) is the relative stability of it. Property values don't change nearly as much year-to-year as consumer spending does. Therefore, school districts can more easily plan 5-to-10 year budgets when they derive their income from property taxes rather than sales taxes.