The valuation on which the RE tax is supposed to be based is some (crude) measure of what someone else likely is willing to pay you for your property. The claim that "if you can afford to buy it then you can afford the taxes on it" loses validity as time goes on. The case of the property bought decades ago is a good example. The wealth of people of means who can afford vacation homes keeps bidding up the going prices (over time). The long-time owner essentially is paying a tax on someone else's ability to pay it.
The present system of leaning heavily on the RE tax is a sweet deal for towns on the major lakes, as they see a huge chunk of money coming in from people who don't use much in the way of services and also who have no say in the matter. I don't see this changing soon, but if it did, lakefront towns would be seriously impacted.
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