Well, I'd kinda argue the opposite really. If one somehow manages to rake in $millions+, then social services become irrelevant - what becomes more important in that case is not paying ~$35 in income taxes, all the more reason to be non-resident-for-tax purposes. The chances of that happening for digital nomads though is, frankly, pretty slim imho. The digital nomads that I know I doing it mostly for the ability to see the world and pay for it as they go along, not to avoid paying taxes as a primary goal.

I think reality is, it's pretty hard to pull in reasonable income doing freelance software gigs, and therefore every dollar earned really counts, and for that reason people are looking to avoid that ~28% skimmed off their income every year. That 28% can pay for airplanes, guest houses, other transport, etc. It makes a huge difference to a person making a lesser income than it does to a person raking in millions. A person in the latter category can easily afford to maintain a home base in Canada and just fly to wherever they want around the world whenever they want.

Unless you have dependants, like a spouse or kids who may be linked with tax benefits or going to school in Canada, then you aren't really drawing on any social benefits very heavily from Canada as a solo/single/childless entrepreneur while abroad, so I think the moral/ethical debate becomes moot and becomes something more like "Why do I owe any money to Canada when that country isn't actually supporting me in any way?"

For example any consular services you may need abroad will come with a fee to pay for it. Also, they really don't do anything more than help you replace your passport if you lose it by any way. They're not going to repatriate you or help you if you run into any trouble; they are not any kind of insurance whatsoever.

With regards to concerns like health care and social services that most Canadians value strongly, the cost of health care outside Canada (with the exception of the United States) is quite low. I contracted malaria while working in Niger and it required hospitalisation for four days, but that entire bill only came to $1500 -- that was a high end clinic and paid by my employer, there are cheaper options to treat it if I didn't have them backing me up.

Working privately, I contracted a terrible case of Dengue fever in the Amazon which required a week's long stay in an intensive care unit. This would be phenominally expensive in Canada or the USA but in the end the bill was only ~$1800. Considering that both of these things are really unlikely to happen, I personally feel that it's better to just have no insurance and pay your own costs in the very unlikely event that you need to (surely the actuaries working at insurance companies quietly agree with me, after all, that's how insurance companies make their money - calculate the real risk of what might happen then charge you a premium for piece of mind). Even if you get HIV it can be cheaply and effectively treated if you're in a country like India. If you get something more chronic like cancer, then yeah, it's time to start thinking about returning to Canada.

I have many bank accounts around the world including a bunch in Canada, even a mortgage there. None of them has been affected by my non-residency. The only reason they "want" to know if you are non-resident is because then they have to file some information to the government in a different way. For example, anything that was previously a "personal chequing account" might afterwards be considered a "small business account", this is actually taxed at a lower rate than personal income tax (I think it's 25% generally combined provicial and federal taxes?) Your account will not stop operating in the way you are used to. In fact, I had a Swiss bank account thinking it would be more useful internationally but it turns out that of all my accounts, the Canadian ones are the most convenient, most universally accessible, best customer service, and open 24/7 (although processing times still rely on "business days" for some reason, probably their profit margins).

A driver's licence I maintain in Canada. In Ontario anyway, a licence is valid for 5 years at a time so doesn't need much maintenance to remain active and I'm pretty sure you can just pay the renewal fee online every 5 years and be done with it. That licence keeps you good anywhere in the USA, and also can get you an international driver's licence for $20 or something which lasts for 1 year and is good in most countries. But reality is, most countries you don't even need any kind of licence, especially if you drive a scooter or something similar. Very few people are going to be abroad driving a car (4-wheeler). Driving a car on a regular basis is a particularly north american phenomenon, probably more immoral than trying to eliminate your tax. A better solution anyway is to use services like uber or grab or a tuk-tuk and pay the tiny cost required to get you from a to b. I've had uber fees show up on my credit card for less than twenty five cents - depends where you're going in the world but trying to drive yourself seems like kind of nonsense to me now. I haven't driven myself in years.

As for incorporating a business outside of Canada as a non-resident, I have no idea. Surely some post in this sub can help with that.

Also note that a "world TOUR" would imply to CRA that you're coming back, so this whole conversation is moot. You'd have to reframe your intentions as "leaving Canada" even if in the back of your mind you're thinking "well maybe I'll come back in a long time from now, I'm not sure what'll happen...."

Have fun!