The proper tax treatment of interest expense has been a subject of disagreement since the inception of the modern income tax in the early twentieth century. On one view, the purpose of the financing transaction dictates the tax treatment of interest so that interest paid on borrowing used to...

This paper proposes and evaluates alternative methods for addressing the tax treatment of interest expenses in a multijurisdictional setting. The differential deductibility of debt entailed by various current tax law provisions leads to potential distortions in the patterns of asset ownership...

In this study we investigate the impact of the thin capitalization rule (TCR), introduced in Germany in 2008, on firms' capital structure, investment and profitability. The identification of the causal effects is based on the escape clauses in the regulation using a difference-in-difference...

The mortgage interest deduction is often criticized for contributing to after-tax income inequality. Yet the effects of the mortgage interest deduction on income inequality are more nuanced than the conventional wisdom would suggest. We show that the mortgage interest deduction causes...

Against the background of the 2007-2009 financial crisis which years of conspicuous debt buildup set the stage for and the persistence of debt overhand since then, tax deductibility of debt interest has come under increased scrutiny. The prevailing view is that such deductibility is a subsidy...

Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Wirkungen der Zinsbereinigung des Eigenkapitals auf das zu erwartende Steueraufkommen und auf den internationalen Steuerwettbewerb. Ausgangspunkt hierfür ist eine modelltheoreti-sche Untersuchung des Zusammenhanges zwischen Kapitalmarktrenditen und...

This paper examines the impact of thin capitalization rules that limit the tax deductibility of interest on the capital structure of the foreign affiliates of US multinationals. We construct a new data set on thin capitalization rules in 54 countries for the period 1982-2004. Using confidential...

Tax provisions favoring corporate debt over equity finance (“debt bias”) are widely recognized as a risk to financial stability. This paper explores whether and how thin-capitalization rules, which restrict interest deductibility beyond a certain amount, affect corporate debt ratios and...

This paper analyzes how shareholder wealth, firm characteristics, and public finance would be impacted if tax deductibility of interest expenses were eliminated. We find that shareholder value would decrease by 3.5%. Under the new regime, firms would be smaller and less levered, would have less...

This paper proposes and evaluates alternative methods for addressing the tax treatment of interest expenses in a multijurisdictional setting. The differential deductibility of debt entailed by various current tax law provisions leads to potential distortions in the patterns of asset ownership...