Debt Bias and Other Distortions

Download or read book Debt Bias and Other Distortions written by International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2009-12-06 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tax distortions are likely to have encouraged excessive leveraging and other financial market problems evident in the crisis. These effects have been little explored, but are potentially macro-relevant. Taxation can result, for example, in a net subsidy to borrowing of hundreds of basis points, raising debt-equity ratios and vulnerabilities from capital inflows. This paper reviews key channels by which tax distortions can significantly affect financial markets, drawing implications for tax design once the crisis has passed.