I would even go so far as to say the typical middle-class family has real property in an amount that exceeds their net-worth.

Median American net worth is $121k. Median home price is $380k. Typical real property taxes are .5% - 2%. Call it 1% and that makes the typical wealth tax on middle-class people roughly 3% per year.

>60% of homeowners are in debt on their house, though.

So they are getting appreciation on leverage.

I would argue the median homeowner is being subsidized, having a negative wealth tax.

The local government takes away 1%, but the Federal government pumps up your asset price by >2% - that's a -1% wealth tax (paid entirely through inflation by non-homeowners).

Yes, there are many exemptions in tax policy for real estate. We exempt the first $500k of gains from income taxes, for example. And our whole society is structured around "building equity" i.e. making housing cost more.