Residents question accuracy of room tax poll

An automated phone survey that shows voters strongly favor Clark County suing online travel agencies for unpaid room taxes has one glitch.

Some respondents complain that if they choose “no” to collecting the room taxes from out-of-state Internet agencies, the system rejects their answers.

Will Kemp, a local attorney who hopes to represent the county in the lawsuit, sponsored the survey. Political Marketing International is handling the automated polling.

Kemp said the rejected replies were probably just a malfunction, perhaps with the people’s phones. Roughly 2,300 of the 4,000 people surveyed so far are in favor of collecting the taxes from companies like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, said Kemp, who plans to present the results to county commissioners Tuesday.

“I thought the question was worded in favor of the travel companies because it assumed there could be a negative impact on tourism” if more taxes are collected, Kemp said. “And I don’t think it’s true.”

Kemp estimates that online travel agencies could owe the county as much as $500 million in back taxes. These agencies pay room taxes on the wholesale prices they pay hotels but nothing on the marked-up prices they charge customers.

The automated survey gives one pro and one con to the county collecting the taxes. It then tells listeners to punch '1’ if they support the action and '2’ if they oppose it.

Michele Bruce of Las Vegas said when she pressed '2’, she was told the number she selected was invalid. She tried several more times and kept getting rebuffed. Finally, she hung up in frustration.

“It’s like if you didn’t agree what they wanted to do, then your vote didn’t count,” Bruce said.

Bruce said she thought the commission had sponsored the poll. She was going to complain to the county about spending tax dollars on a skewed survey.

Jim Ton of Las Vegas described having a similar experience.

“If that’s the kind of recorded message they’re sending out, no wonder they’re getting such a favorable response,” Ton said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s a scam.”

But Kemp said the polling firm is established and reputable and did not design the survey to block undesired answers.

“There are 2,300 no (votes),” Kemp said.

Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.