That is a good question/distinction, but even with that taken into account, some of the numbers in that article are not that far off from other places. That $2.3 million dollar house had $28,000/yr in property taxes, and here in Oregon that would be somewhere in the $30k/yr range.

However in Oregon there was a measure passed in the 90s that limits gains in evaluation of an existing house to 3%, and as a result every house always goes up by 3% assessed value. That makes it more predictable, as you can always expect that value to go up every year.