Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first property tax records were found in the city-state of Lagash, dating from about six thousand years before the common era. These ancient soil tablets reveal a system called bala which operated on a rotating schedule to distribute the administrative burden. This early form of taxation relied on the physical area of the land and the crops it produced rather than monetary value.
William the Conqueror established an early form of land taxation in the 1070s that required cities to keep records of property owners and measure every parcel. This system required peasants who rented land to pay taxes based on the productivity of the soil. The records kept by assessors helped calculate annual data by checking crop yields and cattle numbers.
The ownership of residential property or freehold land in the United Kingdom is not taxed, a situation almost unique in the OECD. Instead, the Council Tax is usually paid by the resident of a property and only in the case of unoccupied property does the owner become liable to pay it. The Valuation Office Agency carries out valuation under the auspices of HMRC to allocate properties to Council Tax bands.
Property tax on real estate in the United States is usually levied by the local government as the national government levies no real estate tax. State governments levy 3% of the total property tax collected while the other 97% is collected by counties, municipalities, schools, and other special-purpose governmental agencies. Rates vary across the states between about 0% and 4% of the home value.
A resident of Southfield, Michigan was evicted from her home for missing a 900 dollar property tax payment. The town refused to accept her late payment and instead confiscated and sold her nearly 300,000 dollar home. Critics note that instances like this are a fairly frequent occurrence and demonstrate a threat to property rights and the rule of law.