Reviews the ongoing controversies in Canada respecting the taxation of payments made under non-competition and similar restrictive covenants and considers the insidious manner in which modern tax legislation can convert seemingly narrow concerns, arising in the view of the tax authorities, into a legislative monstrosity. Specifically discusses non-compete arrangements and theory of taxation before the decisions in Fortino and Manrell, the cumulative effect of the decisions in Fortino and Manrell, the government's initial response of 7 October 2003, and the 27 February 2004 package of technical amendments to deal with the matter.