Natural Resource Revenues: A Test of Federalism (British Columbia Institute for Economic Policy Analysis series ; 3)

By Anthony Scott

Debate on the question of who should receive the surplus revenuegenerated by natural-resource exploitation -- Ottawa or the provinces-- is usually carried on in terms of history, politics custom, law,social values, and environmental considerations. This collection ofessays presents analyses of the question from the economist's pointof view. The essays fall into three groups. In the first of these, theauthors examine the taxation of the mining and energy industries andshow how the method of taxation chosen by different levels ofgovernment -- federal or provincial -- may be "non-neutral,"distorting private output and timing decisions. The second groupconsists of careful case studies of the effects of particular naturalresource taxation measures; the third focuses directly on the questionof provincial and federal entitlement to resource revenues. Although arguments are advanced for linking the right to tax to theresponsibility for management and control (at present vested in theprovinces), most of the contributors would agree that the provincesshould be regarded as stewards and bailiffs, not landlords; as rentcollectors and managers, not "rentiers" and owners.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0774800607
• ISBN13: 9780774800600
• Release Date: December 1976
• Publisher: UBC Press
• Length: 261 Pages
• Dimensions: 6.0" x 9.0"