A 4/3/2008 post to the Town Crier discussion board ranked towns by tax rate. Tax rate is a poor metric by which to compare towns.
Tax bill, on the other hand, is a much better basis for comparison. Tax bill is simply the tax rate multiplied by the assessment. It reflects the cost to a household. Wayland's average tax bill in FY06, the latest year for which the Department of Revenue presents data, ranked 8 out of 14 peer towns (data here; Brookline not included since DOR does not show tax bill for that town).
Whether or not that tax bill ranking is too high or not depends on income among other factors. According to an organization called OnBoard LLC, in 2004 (their latest year available), Wayland's median household income also ranked 8 out of 14.
The best measures to compare, in my opinion, would be median tax bill and median household income, but I'm not aware of data showing the former.
Thank you.
send me email at dieffenbach @ alum.mit.edu.