As a result, the after-tax cost of owning a home has risen sharply since last year.
The after-tax cost, he added, is about $825 million.
For many employers, the added after-tax costs that workers would pay for flexible health benefits may not be very important.
Some have too much debt and have not considered the after-tax cost of borrowing.
Even as personal interest, it is still lower than the after-tax cost of other loans, but borrowing on an insurance policy reduces the death benefit.
Companies aren't likely to expand their permanent work force if the after-tax cost of new workers is going to shoot up a year later.
The company said the after-tax cost for these claims, which were written off over the last three years, was $1.39 billion.
The settlement's real after-tax cost to the company is closer to $375 million.
From November 1982 through the end of last year, the average after-tax cost was 2.9 percent, he added.
The after-tax costs for just the first half of this year run to $880 million.