(a) This section shall apply only to Lee County in those areas outside the corporate limits of the Cities of Auburn, Opelika, and Phenix City.
(b) In order to provide funds for the benefit of Lee County, the Lee County Commission is hereby authorized to levy and to provide for the assessment and collection of sales and use taxes outside the corporate limits of the Cities of Auburn, Opelika, and Phenix City generally paralleling the state sales and use taxes in the county at a rate not to exceed one percent. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, the Lee County Commission shall not levy any tax hereunder measured by gross receipts, except a sales or use tax which generally parallels, except for the rate of tax, that imposed by the state under applicable law.
(c) The rate of tax levied under authority of this section on items having a rate of tax under state sales and use tax laws different from the general tax rate shall not exceed that proportion of the rate levied hereunder which the tax levied hereunder bears to the general sales and use tax rate of the state.
(d) The proceeds from the taxes provided for herein shall be collected by the State Department of Revenue. The proceeds, less any costs of collection, shall be deposited without delay into the State Treasury to the credit of the County of Lee to be properly distributed by the county as provided for herein. The amount deducted from the proceeds by the Department of Revenue for the cost of collection shall be an amount equivalent to not more than 10 percent of the revenue collected hereunder. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller to issue his or her warrant each month payable to the County Treasurer of Lee County in his or her official capacity in an amount equal to the amount so certified by the Commissioner of Revenue as having been collected for the use of the county. All revenues arising from the taxes herein authorized to be levied that are due to be paid to Lee County shall be deposited in the county general fund. Of the taxes collected for the first 12 months in which the taxes authorized herein are collected, one-half of the revenues shall be used for general county purposes and one-half of the revenues shall be distributed to the county board of education for educational purposes and in every month thereafter, all revenue shall be distributed to the county board of education for educational purposes.
(e) All provisions of the state sales and use tax statutes with respect to exemptions, payment, assessment, and collection of the state sales and use taxes, making of reports and keeping and preserving records with respect thereto, interest after due date of tax, penalties for failure to comply with the statutes, the promulgation of rules and regulations with respect to the state sales and use tax, and the administration and enforcement of the state sales and use tax statutes which are not inconsistent with this section when applied to the tax authorized by subsection (b) shall apply to the county tax. The Commissioner of Revenue and the State Department of Revenue shall have and exercise the same powers, duties, and obligations with respect to the county taxes levied as are imposed on the commissioner and the department, respectively, by the state sales tax statutes and the state use tax statutes. All provisions of the state sales tax statutes and the state use tax statutes that are made applicable by this section to the county taxes levied and to the administration of this section are incorporated herein by reference and made a part hereof as if fully set forth herein.