I suspect every country taxes stock, certainly every country I'm aware of. The thing that's different in the US is you only get taxed capital gains (much lower

I suspect every country taxes stock, certainly every country I'm aware of. The thing that's different in the US is you only get taxed capital gains (much lower). In the other countries I'm familiar with (Canada isn't one of them) stock is just income and gets taxed via the normal income tax mechanisms.