The General Assembly has authorized the corporate authorities of any municipality to impose various fees and taxes on the privilege of originating or receiving telecommunications, and on retailers engaged in the business of transmitting such telecommunications, all of which are remitted by such retailers directly to the imposing municipality. To simplify the imposition and collection of municipal telecommunications taxes and to reduce complication and burden, the General Assembly is repealing the municipal telecommunications tax, the municipal tax on the occupation or privilege of transmitting messages, and the municipal infrastructure maintenance fee, and is enacting this Simplified Municipal Telecommunications Tax Act which provides for a single municipally imposed telecommunications tax which, for municipalities with populations of less than 500,000, will be collected by the Illinois Department of Revenue, but which, for municipalities of 500,000 or more, will continue to be collected by such municipalities.