Is investment taxed?
jacquesm: How it works 'elsewhere' depends greatly on where elsewhere is. In some countries you can write off your investments when they tank, but in those places you can expect to pay a healthy tax if they appreciate. In others both the losses and the gains are not part of your taxes.It also depends on what you qualify as an investment, for instance, investing in real estate or antiques can be tax free but a business investment might be taxed.You can't really answer this question in a general way without at least specifying locality and the specific kind of investment.So the 'how it works elsewhere' portion of your question is not easy to answer without a long list of examples and localities.