Extract

Tributum was a direct tax paid by individuals to the Roman state. Until 167 bce citizens of Rome were liable to pay a tributum which was in principle an extraordinary (in contrast to the regular vectigalia) levy on their property and might be repaid. The total size of the levy was decided by the senate and varied from year to year. In some years, e.g. 347–345, no tributum was levied. After its suspension in 167 bce this form of tributum was only again levied in the exigencies of the civil wars after Caesar's murder. Under the emperors Rome and Roman Italy were exempt from direct taxation. After 167 bcetributum came to denote the direct taxes raised in the provinces, either in the form of a land-tax (tributum soli) or poll-tax (tributum capitis). These were paid by all inhabitants of the provinces, whether Roman citizens or not, except by citizens of coloniae (see colonization, roman) which normally possessed the *ius Italicum and were consequently exempt, usually from both taxes (Dig.