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"When companies consider a move, the city gets eliminated before the competition starts. You certainly see companies already here holding down employment," Fisher said.

City employment has been hit hard in the last decade both by a reduction in the number of square feet of Center City office space and a rising vacancy rate, which some real estate experts believe will reach 20 percent when the Comcast Center skyscraper opens in 2007.

The study launched a campaign to make reducing city business taxes a central issue in the 2007 race for mayor. Mayor Street's office did not have an immediate comment on the study. Street is completing his second term as mayor and is not eligible to run again.

The cost and complexity of city taxes have stunted the growth of the Center City office market for more than a decade, said Wayne Fisher, a senior vice president of the Grubb & Ellis Co. real estate firm and a Center City District board member.
"When companies consider a move, the city gets eliminated before the competition starts. You certainly see companies already here holding down employment," Fisher said.