Non-Fiscal Tax Policies and State Sovereignty

In this interdisciplinary book, Giulio Allevato explores how the non-fiscal function of the taxing power has contributed to the establishment, consolidation, and maintenance of an effective power to govern in modern nation states. Innovative in its historical approach, this book illustrates how the link between non-budgetary tax policies and state sovereignty continues to play out in the current global landscape.

Non-Fiscal Tax Policies and State Sovereignty identifies and analyses certain ‘waves’ of regulatory and redistributive tax policies whose enactment or discussion has presented similar features among several nation states. Allevato discusses how these non-fiscal tax policies played a decisive role in the establishment of full state sovereignty, namely by favouring nation states built on centralized governments and consolidating their ruling powers. Ultimately, Allevato assesses how an internationally and supranationally coordinated use of the taxing power’s non-fiscal function continues to play a decisive role in the ability of national governments to effectively exercise their authority against the emergence of a sort of ‘corporate feudalism’.



This insightful book is a crucial resource for students and scholars of international tax law, tax policy and legal history. It is also beneficial to political scientists interested in the development of modern nation states and on the role of taxation in this.