Should Interest be tax-deductible for Business?

One aspect in the debate (Dirk Schoenmaker, 'Removing tax advantages of debt is vital') about this question is the fact that by making it less attractive for companies to treat interest payments as an ordinary business expense legislators have create a bias against equity finance. (Listed) companies would have to substantially boost their equity issuance if they no longer could rely on favorable tax treatment of their borrowings. This would mean that the Shareowner culture would receive a substantial boost - especially if investors would at the same time get tax incentives to invest in shares. For example, savings products that are invested in bank deposits are in many countries included in incentive schemes that are intended to reward retail savers.
(04/02/2011)