Last year Swensen Corp. had sales of $303,225, operating costs of $267,500, and year-end assets of $195,000. The debt-to-total-assets ratio was 27%, the interest rate on the debt was 8.2%, and the firm's tax rate was 37%. The new CFO wants to see how the Return on Equity (ROE) would have been affected if the firm had used a 45% debt ratio. Assume that sales and total assets would not be affected, and that the interest rate and tax rate would both remain constant. By how much would the ROE change in response to the change in the capital structure?

9. tax types: taxes are classified based on whether they are applied directly to income, called direct taxes, or to some other measurable performance characteristic of the firm, called indirect taxes. identify each of the following as a “direct tax,” an “indirect tax,” or something else: a. corporate income tax paid by a japanese subsidiary on its operating income b. royalties paid to saudi arabia for oil extracted and shipped to world markets c. interest received by a u.s. parent on bank deposits held in london d. interest received by a u.s. parent on a loan to a subsidiary in mexico e. principal repayment received by u.s. parent from belgium on a loan to a wholly owned subsidiary in belgium f. excise tax paid on cigarettes manufactured and sold within the united states g. property taxes paid on the corporate headquarters building in seattle h. a direct contribution to the international committee of the red cross for refugee relief i. deferred income tax, shown as a deduction on the u.s. parent’s consolidated income tax j. withholding taxes withheld by germany on dividends paid to a united kingdom parent corporation