The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth Bay in 1620. But it took another 26 years before they introduced what would become one of their most lasting legacies - the property tax.

Nobody in Massachusetts seems to like the property tax. Clyde Barrow, with the Center for Policy Analysis in Dartmouth, said property taxes are regressive, and place a particular burden on homeowners.

Property taxes make up less of the total mix of state and local taxes overall today than they used to. In 1977, property taxes represented 49 percent of the state and local taxes collected in Massachusetts. By 2005, that amount had fallen to 36 percent, while the percentage from both income and sales taxes had grown.

The major reason property taxes have declined so much is the impact of the tax-limiting law, Proposition 2 , which since 1982 has put two constraints on the amount of property tax a town can levy: no more than 2.5 percent of the total cash value of all taxable property in a town, and no more than 2.5 percent above the amount taxed in the previous year.

However, the research group MassINC has found that, on average, property taxes are still higher now than they were in 1987, adjusted for inflation. Perhaps another reason property taxes are unpopular is because local governments are so reliant on it. In 2005, property taxes made up 43.8 percent of local government revenue in Massachusetts, far above the national average of 27.9 percent, according to a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

And that reliance has only grown in recent years, as state aid was cut back. The same paper found that from 2002 to 2004, when state aid declined by 6.9 percent, local governments increased property taxes by 7.3 percent.

But the appetite for higher taxes may be waning.

In 2006, voters approved 54.3 percent of proposed Proposition 2 overrides; the following year, they approved only 34.9 percent of them.

Override supporters often point to the impact budget cuts will have on education.

But even the state teachers' union argues overrides are not the answer. The union's president, Anne Wass, said it would be better if federal and state governments provided more aid to local schools.

Wass suggests closing corporate loopholes as one way to increase state revenue. Her union also supported Gov. Deval Patrick's proposal to license three resort casinos in the state, which failed in the House earlier this month.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation and the original driving force behind Proposition 2 , has also supported moving the burden for education spending from municipal government to the state level as a way to reduce reliance on property taxes.

Barrow and other analysts say the state Legislature should give cities and towns more options, like restaurant and hotel taxes, for raising revenue. Patrick has pushed a similar proposal. The Federal Reserve paper listed other options, including local sales taxes, public utility taxes, and local income taxes on individuals or corporations.

But so far, Barrow said, "The Legislature has been absolutely unwilling to provide them with any alternatives." In fact, he thinks state leaders prefer the current situation.

"Nobody loves a fiscal crisis more than the leaders of the House, because they love having cities and towns come crawling to them," Barrow said.

Right now, though, it looks as if groveling may be the only other option. This year's annual report on municipal finances from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation concluded: "With local aid increases likely to be limited for the foreseeable future, cities and towns will be increasingly dependent on the property tax to support local services."