固定资产是以成本进行折价，如果通胀高于预期，说明资产账面的折旧小于真实的折旧额，又由于折旧是税前列支，折旧越小，节税效果越差。

问题如下：

4. Hernández’s best response to Costa’s second question is that:

选项：

real tax savings from depreciation and real interest expense would be lower.

real tax savings from depreciation would be higher and real interest expense would be lower.

real tax savings from depreciation would be lower and real interest expense would be higher.

解释：

A is correct.

Higher than expected inflation increases the corporation’s real taxes because it reduces the value of the depreciation tax shelter; it also decreases the real interest expense because payments to bondholders in real terms are lower than expected.