Taxing retirement money

Some countries do notbtax retirement money. That is very smart, if you are an attractive place where people want to retire - like France. I have not checked if that policy applies to Tahiti, but I hope it does. That is definitely a place where I would consider retiring myself.
Why does it make sense not to tax retirement funds and pension payments? Because if you want to retire somewhere other than your home country, you need a place to live. When you buy it, you pay tax. In most countries, you also have to pay tax every year on your property. And of course you pay taxes every day, when you buy food, or pastis with your boule friends.
Most people would like to retire somewhere nice and warm, with nice beaches. For Europeans, Spain or south of France comes to mind -although if the Greek had their heads screwed on right, they would have turned themselves to the retirement paradise of Europe long ago. Like Florida in the US, or Arizona. But the Greek governement can't even tax the Greek, and evidently there is no proper property registry.
For people in the US who want to retire in Florida it is very easy to transfer money. A dollar in Florida is the same as a dollar in New York. This was the idea behind the euro, too: A euro in Germany should be the same as in Greece. But if Greece exits the Eurozone and creates a new drachma, nobody will be certain what their money is worth.
That of course opens opportunities for other places. If you have to change your money to an unknown currency, you might as well choose a stable one, like the Thai baht. If Thailand manages to retain its economic expansion and political stability, this is a great opportunity. Now they are selling condominiums on golf courses - can a community with built- in health care facilities be far behind? And China is close enough that it should be easy to attract them. There are already adventurous Japanese and Koreans who retire there. It helps that an apartment in Bangkok costs about the same as an apartment in central Tokyo. Although it is three times as large. And the living cost is a fifth of of that in Japan - that is one third ot that in Europe, roundabout.
So Thailand has a lot going for it as retirement location. It is worth coming bach to in a later post.