And the elephant in the room is differing tax treatments for returns on equity vs returns on fixed income. Most jurisdiction allow you to pay interest with pre-tax income but profits are taxed and then used to pay dividends or buy back stock.
(Which is pretty silly and self-contradicting, if you combine it with regulation _against_ leverage. Government, please make up your mind which capital structure if any you want to prefer.)
And the elephant in the room is differing tax treatments for returns on equity vs returns on fixed income. Most jurisdiction allow you to pay interest with pre-tax income but profits are taxed and then used to pay dividends or buy back stock.
(Which is pretty silly and self-contradicting, if you combine it with regulation _against_ leverage. Government, please make up your mind which capital structure if any you want to prefer.)