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Originally Posted by cardeza
The overall migration to the burbs has slowed, if not reversed nationwide, but let's not get out of hand and act as if suburban campuses are vanishing. Really, outside of the NE and Chicago suburban style mega complexes are more the rule than the exception- think about the DC metro area which is fullof midrise office buildings adjacent to highway interchanges. . think about many of the software companies. I can't believe people reduce all these complex factors down to "if Philly had lower taxes, no company would ever be in the suburbs". Really? Not only to many execs and workers live out there, some folks LOVE free parking, park like environs, no homeless people or "urban" issues, etc. I believe Equus noted that one of the reasons they were moving to Newtown Square was that many of the employees lived out there and they wanted their own conveniently located corporate compound in an upscale suburban environment.
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I sat on a corporate selection committee that assessed new markets for a new office for a large suburban Philly company. Business leaders weren't willing to consider expansion into Philly because of taxes. It really was that simple.
And not to get into a big debate about taxes, but Philly has some of the highest taxes in the US when factoring PA and city taxes. If you look at other US cities like NYC or San Fran, their wage taxes are 4% and 1.5% respectively and many cities don't have wage taxes. It definitely is one factor, of many, that contribute to Philly's business unfriendly environment.