“. . . The conclusion from the January 31, 2016 report of the Global Fixed Income Research team at S&P is if net interest deductibility is put in place, it “has the potential to discourage debt issuance in the long run.” But there are many caveats in the team’s findings.

The most intriguing data in the report is the average interest expense as a percentage of EBITDA broken down by ratings. For example, U.S. nonfinancial firms in the AAA or AA rating category have on average 5.01% and 5.71%, respectively, of interest expenses as a percentage of EBITDA. Single A is 15.56%; BBB is 12.68%; and then it climbs through to 15.23%, 34.44% and 101.91% for BB, B and CCC/C, respectively.”