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Jizyah in other religions
1- Prophet Joshua in the Bible Joshua chapter 16 verse 10 states: " They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor." (New International Version: http://biblehub.com/joshua/16-10.htm)

2- Also in the web site called Theology of work I found this article from which I copied this excerpt:

In Jesus’ days, Jews paid taxes both locally to the Jewish temple and to the pagan government in Rome. Matthew records two separate instances depicting Jesus’ view on paying these taxes. The first incident is recorded inMatthew 17:24-27, where the collectors of the temple tax asked Peter whether Jesus pays that tax. Jesus, knowing of this conversation, asks Peter, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?" Peter answers, “From others." Jesus responds, “Then the children are free. However, so that we do not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me."

The second incident, concerning the Roman tax, is found in Matthew 22:15-22. Here the Pharisees and Herodians want to entrap Jesus with the question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" Jesus knows the malice in their hearts and responds with a cutting question, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." When they hand him a denarius, he asks, “Whose head is this, and whose title?" They respond, “The emperor's." Jesus ends the conversation with the words, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s."

In another location in the same article it is said: "Paying taxes is one of the bedrock obligations we as citizens or residents undertake for the services we enjoy in any civilized society. "

3- In the New testament Romans 13:6-7 "For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed." So paying taxes according to people of the book themselves is a duty you have to pay, even Jesus, peace and blessings be upon him, paid it. The idea is whether this tax is burdening the payer or not

How much was the 'Jizyah
During the time of prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the value of the jizyah was 1 Dinar per year while during the Umaiid era it reached 4 dinars per year...an amount anyone was capable of paying.

History speaks for itself
1- The Prophet, may Allah bless him, said, "Whoever killed a Mu'ahid (a person who is granted the pledge of protection by the Muslims) shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise though its fragrance can be smelt at a distance of forty years (of traveling)." (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 2930)

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in this regard "whoever hurts a Dhimmi, hurts me".
And in another narration by Alkateeb that Ibn Masoud reported that prophet Mohamed, peace and blessings be upon him said, "Whoever hurts a dhimmi, I am his adversary, and I shall be an adversary to him on the Day of Resurrection" (Al-Khatib).

And in the Holy Quran God said, "And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, 'We believe in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him." (29:46)

2- Once, during the reign of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, a Jizyah collector offered the taxes collected from the people to 'Umar, who was upset by the large amount and asked him if he had burdened the people. He replied, "No, not at all! We took only the surplus and lawful taxes." 'Umar asked, "Without any pressure or persecution?" The man replied, "Yes." 'Umar then said to him, "Praise be to Almighty Allah that the non-Muslim citizens have not been oppressed during my rule. (Ibn Salam, Imam Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim, Al-Amwal, p. 43. Also see Ibn Qudamah, Al Mughni, Volume 9, p. 290 & Ibnul Qayyim, Ahkam Ahlul Dhimma, Volume 1, p.139). Notice that Umar ibn Al-Khattab while he was Caliph tried his best to ensure that those who were paying Jizyah were not doing so under any harsh conditions.

3- The covenant of ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, is a wonderful document showing Islam’s approach to non-Muslims living in peace within Islamic rule. Following is recorded by al-Tabari; “In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, most Beneficent. This is a covenant of peace granted by the slave of Allah, the commander of the faithful ‘Umar to the people of Jerusalem. They are granted protection for their lives, their property, their churches, and their Crosses, in whatever condition they are. All of them are granted the same protection. No one will dwell in their churches, nor will they be destroyed and nothing will be reduced of their belongings. Nothing shall be taken from their Crosses or their property. There will be no compulsion on them regarding their religion, nor will any one of them be troubled." (Tarikh al-Tabari 2/308)

Also it is recorded in Sahih Bukhari that Umar (after he was stabbed), instructed (his would-be-successor) saying, "I urge him (i.e. the new Caliph) to take care of those non-Muslims who are under the protection of Allah and His Messenger in that he should observe the convention agreed upon with them, and fight on their behalf (to secure their safety) and he should not over-tax them beyond their capability."(Sahih Bukhari, Hadith 2824)

4- It was also reported that Khaled ibn al Walid stated in the contract which he made with some cities near Hira "if we managed to protect you, then we get the jizyah and if we couldn't we don't get it".

5- When Muslims failed to meet the condition of protection of the people of the Dhimma, they returned back the paid jizyah to them and this happened during the reign of Umar ibn al Khattab when he was informed that Heraclius was preparing a huge army to fight against the Muslims. Due to such circumstances, Abu Ubaida, the Muslim military leader at the time, wrote correspondents to all the Muslim rulers of the cities that were opened by Muslims in the Levant area and commanded them to return back the jizyah money that was collected from these cities and he wrote to people of Dhimma saying, "we have returned back your money because we were informed of that a huge army was mobilized by the Romans and you placed a condition on us to protect you and we are unable to do it. So we have paid back your money to keep the condition intact along with the contract that was written between us and you and the contract will resume to be effective should we be granted victory"

6- "The Golden age of Jewish culture" which is defined in wikipedia as " coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, a period of Muslim rule throughout much of the Iberian Peninsula." as opposed to the term "Spanish Inquisition" which is defined by the Jewish virtual library as:
"The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic tribunal for discovery and punishment of heresy, which was marked by the severity of questioning and punishment and lack of rights afforded to the accused."

Same area same citizens when the land was under Islamic rule it flourished and the Jews themselves call it the golden era of THEIR culture, what more proof is needed that Muslims were not tyrants and YES they applied the verse "There is No compulsion in Religion" (2:256).

Jewish culture considered the Islamic era as their culture's Golden era, no prosecution, no forcing to become Muslims, no expensive back-breaking taxes. This is the complete opposite of what happened to them, in this same area of the world when they were ruled by the others who used religion to justify murder and torture.