Roman taxation system in Republican Era

In the Republican Era, the taxes have been significant public revenue for the Roman state. Roman state obliged its citizens and states to pay the direct and indirect taxes, and its allies to provide troops and ships, within the framework of treaties of alliance. However, at 89 BC by the recognition of right to citizenship for the allies, the allies and the Roman citizens reached to the same position, in terms of indirect taxes. The main taxes, which Roman citizens obliged to pay, were tributum, portorium, and vicesima manumissionis.Tributum was a direct tax, which Roman citizens were liable to pay according to the census. Portorium, which was the tax of the customs and ports, and vicesima manumissionis, which was the tax of the value of freed slaves at the rate of 5%, were indirect taxes. The tax burdens of the Roman citizens, in particular the burden of tributum, alleviated by the formation of Roman provincial administration. States were obliged to pay taxes to the Rome. The form of taxation was singular for each state: Some states had to pay an amount determined on the annual basis (stipendium), while some were subordinated to tax of tithe (decuma), which is the one tenth of the agricultural crops. Roman state collected the indirect taxes, both in states as well as in Italy, through the tax leaseholders, called publicani.