Indeed, but I strongly suspect the parent was positioning this as a thought exercise. In that vein, do you think it's right for the town in which you lived rig

Indeed, but I strongly suspect the parent was positioning this as a thought exercise. In that vein, do you think it's right for the town in which you lived right before moving abroad to charge you property taxes on a home you buy in a foreign country? What if there was an exemption on the first $250K in property value? After all you may one day return to your home town and they were providing bus service while you were gone... What about your home town charging you property taxes on the place you buy in the big city a few years after you move away for college? After all your family is still there and those schools won't fund themselves.