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Show Review of tax figures shows winter visits rose in 1 985 The Utah State Tax Commission has reversed itself following an audit of lodging taxes that now reveal tourism did not fall off during the first quarter months of this year. Originally, the tax commission reported the Park City Chamber of CommerceConvention and Visitor's Bureau's share of the transient room tax was down 10 percent from the same period in 1984. Following a review of those figures back to 1982, the tax commission has determined that lodging taxes for January, February and March were up about 2 percent from those ski season months in 1984. The room tax is one of a number of barometers that track the local economy through tax receipts. But Debby Symonds, executive director of the Chamber Bureau, said the sharp decrease in the lodging tax, as first reported, didn't make sense in light of other indicators. Gross taxable retail sales were up 9 percent in Park City during the first quarter of the year. Based on that information and reports from area ski resorts that showed tourist increases and the ChamberBureau's own lodging tally, Symonds requested an audit from the tax commission's Revenue Accounting Division. According to Herb Hopes, who conducted the audit, transient room taxes collected in Summit County during the months of January, February and March of this year equal $409,823. - During the same period last year, $401,380 was collected. The tax is a 3 percent levy tacked on to all lodging rented for periods shorter than one month. The ChamberBureau receives back about 80 percent of that tax, Symonds said. Symonds said the new figures are in line with the ChamberBureau's figures on visitors during the first-quarter months. She said the lodging tax figures also coincide with skier-day increases at Deer Valley and the Park City Ski Area. ParkWest recorded slightly larger increases during the past ski season. There were a number of complicating compli-cating factors in the audit and final tally of lodging taxes, Symonds noted. The largest of those was that the lodging tax payment of one of Park City's largest property management manage-ment firms had been mistakenly paid into the gross taxable sales account.. The discovery of that error boosted the lodging tax receipts from $353,000 to the new level of almost $410,000. However, the resort tax may not be an accurate barometer of Park City's tourist economy. During the past winter, many lodging discounts were given to groups and individuals who participated in such events as the Special Olympics, the World Cup " ski races and Black Summit, a national gathering of black skiers. |