Cars are daily-use items for most people, so not in the frame of discussion. Unless you only drive your car like once a year or something, in which case yeah you might be better off renting.

> Owning things means you get to be your own master.

Tell that to fixed income folks who are priced out of the houses they own due to property tax increases.

That's pretty much unique to homes (well, real estate in general), and that's because there's pretty much no way to own the land your house is on, at least in the US (maybe there's some really rural parts where it's possible, not sure).

Can't really think of anything else I own that has anything equivalent to a property tax.

Where I live I do have excise tax on my car but that’s pretty small potatoes—maybe a couple hundred dollars a year. Also registration, inspection.