Jewelers of America strongly supports a bill under consideration by the U.S. Congress that would require mail-order, telephone, and Internet merchants to collect sales tax on transactions conducted with out-of-state purchasers.

H.R. 3184, the Simplified Sales and Use Tax Act of 2003, and a companion bill in the U.S. Senate, would allow states that implement the new Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax when selling to their residents. The bill would require the states to provide “reasonable and uniform compensation” to retailers for collecting the sales tax and sets other standards for administration and court jurisdiction. JA is working with its counsel in Washington to get the bill passed.