Progress on the so-called streamlined sales tax completely stalled in March when the Legislature repealed a year-old law requiring vendors to begin collecting the tax.

After six years of wrangling with interstate compacts, tax software, industry opposition and congressional indifference, the streamlined sale tax (SST) seemed on the verge of joining cold fusion in Utah's pantheon of dubious moneymaking schemes.

But this week the Interim Revenue and Taxation Committee renewed the effort to clear the streamlined sales tax's most obvious hurdle: a bewildering and ever-changing patchwork of local sales tax rates. The various governments' cuts of sales revenue ranges from 5.75 percent in Panguitch to 6.6 percent in Salt Lake County to 8.1 percent in Alta.

"It's confusing for business people collecting sales tax remotely," said committee House chairman Wayne Harper. "A lot of people are watching Utah to see if we can come up with a simplified program."

The trick, of course, is finding a painless way to harmonize the local sales tax rates - the life blood of county, municipal, and mass transit budgets - into a uniform statewide figure.

"If we can solve this," said committee Senate Chairman Sen. Curt Bramble. "We would immediately bring back legislation that reintroduces the destination-based sales tax."

Exactly how much money the streamlined sales tax (SST) would bring Utah is anyone's guess.

"Credible estimates put it at $200,000 to $250 million," Bramble said. "Get your dart out and throw it at the wall. You'll have as good an estimate as anyone else."