Following a large expansion in Pittsburgh's split-rate tax, their average annual building permit values increased by 70.4%, while 15 other cities had a 14.4% decrease in the same time period.

"A recent study (Table 3) by University of Maryland economists, Wallace Oates and Robert Schwab, compared average annual building permit values in Pittsburgh and 14 other eastern cities during the decade before, and the decade after, Pittsburgh greatly expanded its two-rate tax. Pittsburgh had a 70.4%increase in the value of building permits while the 15 city average decreased by 14.4% These findings about Pittsburgh's far superior showing are especially remarkable when it is recalled that this city's traditional industry-steel-was undergoing a severe crisis through- out the latter decade."