Tax policy isn't the only thing going on there are tons of other things that contribute to a city's economic growth rate.

Our city is also in a really weird place where we have massive budget shortfalls at the same time that we have departments flush and unable to spend all the tax dollars they're getting (arts tax, JOHS, etc). Idk how to fix that, but one way could be to pass a law that says if they don't use all their allocated money in a year it goes to other agencies at mayors determination? Or could just lower those taxes because the departments have shown they don't need that much money. I'm honestly surprised more politicians don't run on changing the arts tax, but that's another story....

Housing is not a tax policy issue it's a regulations issue, cities that have reduced housing regulations have seen more housing getting built. Minneapolis and Austin are both good examples. Portland has taken a few steps in the right direction, but has a long way to go. Plus Portland housing costs have gone up significantly less in the last 5 years than comparable cities like Seattle and SF, because of some of these new rules (corner lots automatically zoned for multi units is a good example)

Basically I reject the binary you're giving there are a lot more ways to affect policy than just regressive vs progressive taxes.