Property tax is something you have leverage with the government on. You don't have to just deal with what they say you owe them. You can sue the county to get

Property tax is something you have leverage with the government on. You don't have to just deal with what they say you owe them. You can sue the county to get your fair assessed value lower, in order to lower your property taxes. The HOA of a condo I once owned had to do this, because values plummeted, and the county just insisted values kept going up and we owed them more and more tax. I know a guy who somehow pays 0 property tax on a $500k USD house (don't ask me how he finagled that, but he comes from a rich family, married into a richer family and is quite shysty). There's also more esoteric techniques like getting some parcels rezoned as farmland (which carries little to no tax burden). But to your point (and another commenter's), there's a variety of ways a government can assume ownership of your land, even if you own everything free and clear of any debts or owed taxes. (See: Imminent Domain) In this world, you only really own something if you have the might to defend that ownership.