About simplification - SSUTA would streamline the country's more than 7,500 diverse sales tax jurisdictions, each of which has different definitions of what is taxable. States must enact legislation to simplify their sales tax systems as a first step to Congressional passage of legislation permitting states to require collection of sales tax by remote sellers.

About fairness - All commercial transactions should be treated the same way - whether the goods are purchased in a store on "Main Street" or remotely - in a catalog or on the Internet.

About need - Financially strapped local and state governments lost between $9 and $13 billion each year during the past three years in uncollected sales tax due to remote sales.

A new tax - SSUTA enables the collection of sales and use taxes already owed to state and local governments under existing tax laws.

A "banned" tax - The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 prohibits the creation of any new and discriminatory taxes on the Internet. SSUTA does not affect new or discriminatory taxes.

A tax on the Internet - SSUTA is an agreement about collection of owed taxes on purchases made online and via catalog - not the use of the Internet itself.

• According to a report by the Center for Business and Economic Research, state and local government lost between $15.5 and $16.1 billion in 2003 as states are unable to collect sales taxes from online sales. The report projects that 2008 revenue loss for state and local governments would range between $21.5 billion and $33.7 billion, with the greatest losses occurring in states that rely most heavily on the sales tax as a revenue source.
  
  
• According to the Institute for State Studies, local and state governments will lose as much as $54.8 billion by 2011 in uncollected remote sales taxes.
  
  
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 33 percent of state revenues come from sales taxes.
  
  
• E-commerce sales are projected to grow eight-fold in just 10 years from $754.6 billion in 2001 to an astounding $6.09 trillion in 2011.
  
  
• Holiday online orders were up by 29 percent during the 2004 holiday season, according to comScore Networks.
  
  
• The Commerce Department reported that the fourth quarter 2004 e-commerce estimate increased 22.3 percent (±2.6%) from the fourth quarter of 2003 while total retail sales increased 8.3 percent (±0.5%) in the same period.
  
  
• To take part, states will be required to adopt authorizing legislation and enact certain simplification measures, including adopting uniform product codes and sourcing rules, developing uniform definitions of state tax laws, creating a central, one-stop registration system, and limiting the frequency local governments can change their tax rates.
  
  
• Requiring on-line merchants to collect sales tax does not create a new tax and is, therefore, not affected by the Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA).