Even though it is called a private estate, it did not mean that one was exempt from tax, but Kokuga were treated differently from former districts as a separate tax unit, lowered tax under a special order, permitted cultivating land owners to have their own private estates, and the kaihatsu-ryoshu gained the responsibility to collect other taxes simultaneously.
私領といってもその地の課税が免除される訳ではないが、国衙は旧来の郡とは別の、新しい徴税単位として、特別な命令書により税を軽減し、開発領主の私領領有を認め、同時に開発領主がその地の納税義務を負うことになる。