According to
official rules it could be used by the descendants of those who had donated
it without their paying taxes, but they did not have the right to sell it.
Mohammed Ali dispossessed the Mamelukes and abolished the old system
of taxation of landed property. However, subsequently he had to impose a
similar system again to secure the necessary revenues for his treasury. This
led to the development of a new social class of tax collectors, mostly Turk-
ish nobles who were endowed with numerous privileges. Among others,
they had the right to use part of the land belonging to the state as private
property and could have it tilled by forced labour, while they themselves
were exempted from paying taxes. The private estates owned by the princes
of Mohammed Ali’s dynasty were also tax free. It was not until the time of
British colonial rule that a general liability to pay taxes for agricultural land
was introduced.