Consider two firms, Go Debt corporation and No Debt corporation. Both firms are expected to have earnings before interest and taxes of $100,000 during the coming year. In addition, Go Debt is expected to incur $40,000 in interest expenses as a result of its borrowings whereas No Debt will incur no interest expense because it does not use debt financing. Both firms are in the 21 percent tax

Question

bracket. Calculate the earnings after tax for both firms. Compare the difference in after-tax earnings to the difference in interest expense. Can you reconcile that difference?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Go Debt has lower earnings after taxes compared to No Debt, and the difference is $31,600 ($79,000 - $47,400). The difference in interest expense is $40,000. The recent the difference in earnings is less than the difference in interest expense is that the interest expense that Go Debt pays saves the company $8,400 in taxes (a number which you can calculate by multiplying 21% time the $40,000 interest expense).