Historic payment that is put on the books (4)
I believe the answer is:
scot
'historic payment' is the definition.
(type of historical tax)
'that is put on the books' is the wordplay.
'that is' becomes 'sc' (abbrv. for Latin scilicet; 'namely').
'put on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'the books' becomes 'ot' (abbreviation for Old Testament).
'sc'+'ot'='SCOT'
(Other definitions for scot that I've seen before include "Tax, Glasgow native" , "someone with devolved parliament?" , "Highlander perhaps" , "Burns for one" , "Glaswegian, say" .)