A TAX REVOLT in Berkeley?

That seems to be what's happening in one of the nation's most left- leaning strongholds.

After years of voting for various tax measures that have made Berkeley's property taxes the highest in the state, voters are now saying: enough already.

On Nov. 2, four tax measures designed to fund basic services such as fire and police, youth programs, medical services and libraries -- yes, libraries -- failed to get the two-thirds vote they needed to pass.

It's true Berkeleyans did approve a property-tax measure to fund the public schools with a 72-percent vote. That was six points less than when a similar measure was on the ballot four years ago.



Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, a veteran of the Bay Area's progressive struggles, insists that Berkeley is still committed to its left-of-center politics. Ninety percent of all Berkeley voters, he points out, cast ballots for Sen. John Kerry, a higher figure than any other large city with as diverse a population as Berkeley. (Only in Detroit and Gary, Ind., with black populations of more than 80 percent, did Kerry get higher numbers.)

So what's going on? In part, Berkeley's tax revolt is an unexpected fallout from Proposition 13, which ignited the conservative tax movement a quarter century ago, and is now driving resistance to taxes in communities that opposed Prop. 13 in the first place.

Behind the votes, there's anger. Stratospheric home prices have resulted in homeowners paying absurdly unequal property taxes. About 45 percent of Berkeley homeowners, Bates told me, have bought homes since Prop. 13 passed, many of them over the past five years. A new generation of homeowners may end paying $10,000 and upwards in property taxes on a modest Berkeley bungalow they'd be lucky to buy for $700,000.

If you're one of those who bought your house recently you're going to think twice about voting for a measure that is going to push your tax bill even higher, however enthusiastic you may be about the cause. Because of the two thirds vote requirement, if even a small group of voters oppose a measure, it's almost certainly doomed. That's what happened on Nov. 2.

"It's just tax overload," said Bates.




Now the little fish are fighting back.