Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Arguments 3

As firms in general increase their use of debt financing, they provide increasing amounts of interest which is taxed as ordinary income at the expense of capital gains on the stock which is taxed at lower effective rates. The existence of risky borrowing by the firm (risky in the sense that the firm might not be able to repay the debt) can cause the firm to adopt a less profitable investment strategy than it would if it had no risky debt outstanding.