Global taxation, democratic legitimacy and effective sovereignty

Historically the democratic state has been offering the conditions for legitimately levying and collecting taxes. Tax revenues have been securing the democratic sovereign’s ability to act, the policy aims pursued through taxation have been the outcome of a democratic process and the coercion backed institutions levying and collecting taxes have enjoyed the status of democratic legitimacy. At the same time states have come under pressure to address challenges to which global taxation, e.g., an international financial transaction tax, a wealth tax or emission taxes, seem to be the most promising response, giving rise to a tension between global taxation and national democratic sovereignty: How, if at all, can taxation beyond the confines of the democratic nation state be justified? Under what institutional arrangements would global taxation meet the standards of democratic legitimacy? And which tax proposals are most compatible with the requirements of effective democratic sovereignty?