“¶ And when they were come to Capernaum, they that receiued tribute money, came to Peter, and said, Doeth not your master pay tribute?”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
17:24 When they were come to Capernaum - Where our Lord now dwelt. This was the reason why they stayed till he came thither, to ask him for the tribute. Doth not your Master pay tribute? - This was a tribute or payment of a peculiar kind, being half a shekel, (that is, about fifteen pence,) which every master of a family used to pay yearly to the service of the temple, to buy salt, and little things not otherwise provided for. It seems to have been a voluntary thing, which custom rather than any law had established.
Mt 17:24 When they were come to Capernaum. They had now returned from the journey north. Doth not your master pay tribute? Not tribute, which would be a tax due an alien, but the half shekel, an annual tax demanded of every male Jew above twenty years for the support of the temple. It would be from twenty-five to thirty-five cents, as the shekel is variously estimated from fifty to seventy cents. The collectors were not publicans, but Jewish authorities.