Tithing Act of 2077

The Tithing Act 2077 (short title Duties in Earth Sphere Colonies Act 2011; 5 CAA III, c. 12) was a direct tax imposed by the Colonial Administration Authority specifically on the colonies of the Earth Sphere. The act required that a certain amount of raw materials, resources or personnel from each colony be supplied to the CAA, to be distributed amongst the terrestrial governments of the Earth Sphere. The size and nature of the tithe depended largely on the colony it was applied to. The sizable tithes forcibly collected under this act was the principal complaint behind the Colonial independence movement and eventual Colonial Declaration of Independence from the Earth Sphere.

A tithe can be any type of resource: food, weapons, minerals, manufactured goods, people, and so forth. Agri-Colony tithes generally refer to how much of the planet's food production must be supplied to the Earth Sphere. Despite the number of agencies tracking tithes, the sheer size of the Earth Sphere makes the time-consuming logistics of tithe collection and dispersal riddled with confusion and inefficiency.

It is the duty of a colony's Colonial Governor to ensure the tithe of their territory is paid, and any colony which fails to pay its tithe meets with vicious reprisal from the CAA, usually in the form of the UCS' EarthFleet/Navy and it's EarthForce Marines. At the slightest breach of protocol, a colony's entire ruling staff might be immediately discharged, imprisoned, or even executed. This totalitarian method of enforcement, coupled with a number of unpopular decrees and legislation, caused the CAA to be intensely disliked amongst Colonial citizenry by the beginning of the 22nd century.

The make-up of a given world's tithe payments, regardless of the size of those payments as indicated by the Tithe Grade, is determined by the section of Colonial Administration Authority responsible for the overall governance of that colony's Sector and sub-sector of space. The known Colonial Administration Tithe Grades are listed as follows, from highest (most tithe required) to lowest (least tithe required):