Financial firms in the United States pay about 34% of their profits in taxes, and, while they can deduct interest payments to creditors from taxable income, equity is not taxed as favorably. Most countries have similar tax preferences for debt over equity, thereby encouraging financial and other corporations to use more debt, as financial analysts have long known.
美国的金融企业利润中34%要缴税，此外尽管它们可以把向债权人支付的利息从应税所得中扣除，但股本仍需要纳税。大部分国家都存在类似的在税务上优惠债务而不利于股本的情况，这鼓励金融业和其他公司更多地使用债务，这是财务分析师早就知道的事情。