In australia, the tax on dividends and capital gains is 15%, the corporate tax rate is 30% and the individual tax on interest payments is 50%.

(a) considering personal and corporate taxes, does debt has a net tax advantage in australia? assuming that other than tax there are no advantages or disadvantages of debt, what is the optimal leverage ratio (0% to 100%) for companies in australia?
(b) suppose the new government plans to increase the tax on dividends from 15% to 30%? should the amount of leverage used by australian companies increase or decrease? what is the optimal leverage ratio under new tax regime?

The production manager of rordan corporation has submitted the following quarterly production forecast for the upcoming fiscal year: 1st quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter units to be produced 10,800 8,500 7,100 11,200 each unit requires 0.25 direct labor-hours, and direct laborers are paid $20.00 per hour. required: 1. prepare the company’s direct labor budget for the upcoming fiscal year. assume that the direct labor workforce is adjusted each quarter to match the number of hours required to produce the forecasted number of units produced. 2. prepare the company’s direct labor budget for the upcoming fiscal year, assuming that the direct labor workforce is not adjusted each quarter. instead, assume that the company’s direct labor workforce consists of permanent employees who are guaranteed to be paid for at least 2,500 hours of work each quarter. if the number of required direct labor-hours is less than this number, the workers are paid for 2,500 hours anyway. any hours worked in excess of 2,500 hours in a quarter are paid at the rate of 1.5 times the normal hourly rate for direct labor.