Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

POLITICAL SCIENCE / ECONOMICSNAFTA Tax Law and PolicyResolving the Clash between Economic andSovereignty InterestsArthur J. CockfieldUnder the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA), Canada, the United States, and Mexicocontinue to maintain their own distinct tax regimes,jealously guarding their sovereign right to do so. Attimes, these different tax systems harm the economicwelfare of the trade bloc by imposing barriers to crossborderflows of capital. In NAFTA Tax Law andPolicy, Arthur J. Cockfield analyses these different taxsystems and proposes a number of recommendationsto reduce the harm caused by these barriers.Cockfield argues that it is unrealistic to expectthe NAFTA countries to negotiate comprehensivereform efforts such as full-fledged tax harmonization.Rather, a strategy of heightened multilateraltax coordination is the appropriate solution as itpermits the countries to maintain national tax differences,but strives to smooth over many of theproblems created by the interaction of the taxregimes. The NAFTA countries should promotebinding arbitration for transfer pricing disputes,multilateral tax treaty negotiations, the eliminationof parent/subsidiary dividend withholding taxes,and enhanced administrative cooperation to reducetax compliance costs for multinational firms. Onlythen can NAFTA function in the way it wasdesigned to.Arthur J. Cockfield is an associate professor in theFaculty of Law at Queen’s University.Executive Styles in CanadaCabinet Structures and Leadership Practices inCanadian GovernmentEdited by Luc Bernier, Keith Brownsey, andMichael HowlettIPAC SERIES IN PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCECanada’s political regime is centred on the existenceof a federal system of government within the institutionsof Westminster parliamentary democracy.This system places a great deal of political power inthe hands of cabinet ministers, and while cabinetsystems of government in Canada have evolved atdifferent speeds in different federal and provincialgovernments, they have, over the last two decades,increased centralization of administrative and legislativecontrol in ever fewer hands.This shift has been well demonstrated byscholars such as Donald J. Savoie regarding the federalsystem, but little examined in the context ofprovincial governance. Executive Styles in Canadaplaces equal emphasis on both levels, explaininghow and in what way cabinet systems have conformedto or diverged from this general pattern.This unique collection is the only systematic, crossprovincialstudy of its kind, and is certain to be ofgreat benefit to anyone interested in the structure ofgovernment in Canada.Luc Bernier is the director of l’École nationale d’administrationpublique.Keith Brownsey is a professor in the Department ofPolicy Studies at Mount Royal College.Michael Howlett is Burnaby Mountain professor inthe Department of Political Science at Simon FraserUniversity.Approx. 315 pp / 6 x 9 / May 20053 figures; 11 tablesCloth ISBN 0-8020-3581-7 £42.00 $65.00 EApprox. 320 pp / 6 x 9 / April 20058 figures; 1 tableCloth ISBN 0-8020-3952-9 £42.00 $65.00 EPaper ISBN 0-8020-3785-2 £20.00 $29.95 C45