There’s a lot more to it than that. RRSPs, TFSAs, RESPs, RRIFs, and other registered instruments collapse. You lose all tax shelters all at once. Deemed dispositions up the ass. Then there’s the question of how you get the capital out of here, depending on what form it’s in. All in all, if buddy has a decent stash then it all gets crammed into one years income and he’ll lose a big chunk right off the top, before we even discuss foreign currency conversion or money transfer. Buddy’s acting like it’s a no cost no big deal kinda thing, but in fact it’s a huge haircut.

He also hasn’t mentioned the county he’s going to, but there’s 4 main types, none of which will give him a comparable life with lower taxes. There’s rogue nations like North Korea, Iran, and to a lesser extent Russia. Doubt he wants to live in any of these. Then there’s tax havens like Monaco but he would have to have crazy money to afford living there. Then there’s other first world nations, but none of them offer the low taxes he dreams about, both now and in the post Covid future. And finally there’s third world poor nations with low taxes but high instability and he could wake up one day and their government confiscated all his shit and he can’t say boo.

This whole thing about taking your ball and going elsewhere easy peasy is pure fantasy.