On property taxes

I'm a big fan of property taxes. It's a stable, reliable source of funding, which are difficult to avoid. But I had someone present this argument to me: 

"a tax on land is a partial but cumulative confiscation of property".

So here is the counter-argument

"Property tax isa rent payment to the public for the privilege of claiming exclusive use of land; land is unique from labor and capital in that it's supply is fixed"