1300s & 1400s: British tax assessors use ownership or occupancy of property to estimate a taxpayer’s ability to pay.

1700s: The property tax (levied at fixed rates on specific things) is one of five well-developed taxes that allow the colonies to finance a war against the world’s leading military power.

1834: Tennessee replaces a provision requiring that land be taxed at a uniform amount per acre with a provision that land be taxed according to its value.

1932: The property tax nationwide is providing 85.2 percent of local government own-source general revenue. That rate has since declined to about 40 percent.

Source: http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/article/fisher.property.tax.history.us