Final answer:
The yield on debt before taxes, given an after-tax cost of debt of 9 percent and a tax rate of 34 percent, is calculated to be 13.64%.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of the question pertains to the calculation of the yield on debt before taxes given the after-tax cost of debt and the tax rate. The question asks us to determine the yield on debt when the after-tax cost is 9 percent and the tax rate is 34 percent. This can be calculated using the formula for the after-tax cost of debt, which is the yield on the debt multiplied by (1 - tax rate).
To find the original yield, we can rearrange the formula as follows:
Yield on debt = After-tax cost of debt / (1 - Tax rate)
Plugging in the given values:
Yield on debt = 0.09 / (1 - 0.34) = 0.09 / 0.66 = 0.13636, or 13.64% when rounded to two decimal places.
Therefore, the yield on the debt, before taxes, is 13.64%.