Even the history of property tax is more of an income tax because property was income generating- think back hundreds of years where taxes were things like “1/10the the produce of your fields”.
Having taxes being directly against income means that when your income falters or is stopped, the expense reduces or is eliminated also.
I myself have some first-hand experience in this area. A now-deceased relative owned some (quite modestly valued) property in another state. It came within a hairs-breadth of being sold for $12.00 in back taxes. Yep, twelve bucks. It seems she'd neglected to pay the $4.00/year in taxes while she was busy dying of cancer.
Fortunately one of the neighbors took the time to search me out and let me know about this, so I was able to save it. It was a near thing, though.