If IP is Property, where is the property tax?

nweaver writes: "In a response to the LA Times editorial on copyright covered by Slashdot, a response was published in the LA Times arguing Copyright This!. Namely, a key observation: "If Intellectual Property is actually property, why isn't it covered by a property tax?" If copyright maintinence involved paying a fee and registration, this would keep Mickey Mouse safely protected by copyright, while ensuring that works that are no longer economically relevant to the copyright holder pass into the public domain, where the redisdual social value can serve the real purpose of copyright: to enhance the progress of science and useful arts.

Disclaimer: the author is my father."