Here's a comment I once came across on that subject:
"Grotius observes that the Greek words here used, answer to the *tributum* and *vectigal* of the Romans; the former was the money paid for the soil and poll; the latter, the duties laid upon some sorts of merchandize."
–Jonathan Mayhew, *A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-resistance to the Higher Powers* (1750), p. 9.
'Some sort of merch' reads to me as usage taxes. Not obligatory taxes that must be paid no matter what ie income tax
Also, 'Money for soil' is very likely a sharecropper's due to landowner. If one goes back to older translations, and with ability to compare to the original texts/languages, almost all this 'tax' talk is actually fees due in private/voluntsry contracts. Back then, one could actually go live in the woods and be left alone. But some would rather have the security of paying rent (tribute) to a landowner, in one manner or another.
