The Department of the Treasury is a federal ministerial department with the following missions:
- Levy federal taxes from the Oceanykan Federation's members as approved by the Council.
- Collect alternative sources of income from other federal agencies, dependencies and departments.
- Organise a federal budget and distribute funds throughout the government as approved by the Council.
- Hunt down tax evaders.
For these missions the Department of the Treasury has one armed force at its disposal; the Tax Compliance Force. Its head is the Treasurer of the Federation, aided in their functions primarily by the Assistant-Minister of Finance.
The Oceanykan Government only collects a single type of tax; the Polity Tax, equivalent to a certain percentage of a Faction's or Yeomanry's yearly income. As it is stipulated in the Constitution, these two are defined as any organisation, polity, state, group, corporation or individual which claims to have no master above itself (save for the Federal Government), thus it is independent of any other of its type and answers only to the Federation. Regional statelets, nomadic tribes and armed corporations are typically categorised as such. The Oceanykan Council must vote on and approve the tax percentage to be used that year, which is on average 3%. Any figure over 5% is constitutionally required to be in the context of a national emergency in which Article 5 has been declared.
Alternative sources of income make up a very significant portion of the Federation's income. Typical sources include;
- C3 Exports organised by the Department of Commerce, in which the Government acts as a middleman between Oceanykan suppliers and foreign customers, taking a share of the pie in the process.
- Correctional Labour Facilities managed by the Department of Security, in which prisoners toil away to meet harsh quotas, either contracted by Oceanykan corporations or within state-owned farms, mines and factories.
- Fines imposed by regional courthouses or, under extreme circumstances, by the High Court itself.
- Train fees imposed by the Department of Transport for use of the National Rail & Road System.
- Port fees impoed by the Department of Commerce for use of the Government's ports and wharfs.
Using this income, the Department of the Treasury must draft up an annual budget covering the expenses of all government departments, institutions, agencies and dependencies. The two most reliable methods for getting additional money when there isn't enough to go around are by raising taxes by 1-2% (likely to result in an armed uprising) or borrowing from the Federal Bank (decreasing macroeconomic stability).
Finally, the Department of the Treasury must hunt down tax evaders or politely convince them to turn up their debts with the State through its armed branch, the Tax Compliance Force.