Author Gad Saad rips federal government for having to pay 'exit tax'
· Toronto Sun
A marketing professor at Concordia University is leaving Canada due to rising antisemitism, but he said Canada is making him pay a tax to go.
Gad Saad, author of Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind , a book about irrational, pathological kindness among progressive elites with power and its disastrous consequences for western civilization, said Quebec and Canada are making him pay an “exit tax” before he moves to the United States.
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“Following a very difficult meeting with my accountant, I just found out how much it is going to cost me in terms of an ‘exit tax’ to leave Quebec and Canada,” Saad posted on X . “No human being in a free society should have their hard-earned money stolen in this manner. I’m genuinely numb. I’m speechless.”
Why he’s leaving
Saad cited two reasons for leaving Canada: First, the onerous tax system that he said makes it next to impossible to retire. Second, he’s fed up with the governments’ immigration policies, which he said have made Canada unsafe for Jewish Canadians such as himself and his family.
Antisemitism has been increasing across the world since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel and particularly in Canada. According to Public Safety Canada , religiously motivated hate crimes increased 75% from 2022 to 2023, the vast majority of which targeted Canada’s Jewish population.
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What is the ‘exit tax?’
Canada has what’s officially known as a Departure Tax , which it levies on capital gains when someone ceases to be a resident of Canada for tax purposes. It’s a “deemed disposition,” which means that on the date you leave Canada, the government considers that you have disposed of your assets at fair market value and then immediately reacquired them, so any appreciation in value that your assets have accrued is taxed at that time.
Essentially, the government argues that you benefitted from the Canadian economy and tax system and if you’re not going to pay in the future, it wants its cut when you leave.
What will it apply to?
The tax will apply to shares you hold in private or public corporations, mutual funds, cryptocurrency, some real estate outside of Canada, some taxable Canadian properties not excluded by regulation and interest in trusts.
How can you dodge it?
The departure tax won’t apply to TFSAs, RRSPs, Canadian real estate, pensions or any cash on hand. Registered accounts don’t get hit, but that doesn’t mean the country you’re going to will respect that rule.
The U.S., for example, recognizes your RRSP as a tax-advantaged account, but not your TFSA and any interest, dividends or capital gains generated within your TFSA will be taxed and you won’t be allowed to contribute to your TFSA while you’re in the U.S. So it might be an idea to liquidate your TFSA before you move there.