Explanation:

Using DuPont analysis, ROE can be decomposed into the following components: $\text{ROE} = \text{Tax Burden} \times \text{Interest Burden} \times \text{EBIT Margin} \times \text{Total Asset Turnover} \times \text{Leverage}$

Given the data: $\text{Tax Burden} = \frac{\text{ROE}}{\text{Interest Burden} \times \text{EBIT Margin} \times \text{Total Asset Turnover} \times \text{Leverage}}$ $\text{Tax Burden} = \frac{15\%}{0.85 \times 30\% \times 1.1 \times 1.25} = 42.78\%$

The tax burden reflects the portion of pretax profits retained by the company, which is $1 - \text{Average Tax Rate}$. Therefore: $\text{Average Tax Rate} = 1 - \text{Tax Burden} = 1 - 42.78\% = 57.22\%$

Rounding to the nearest whole number, the average tax rate is approximately 57%, making option C the correct answer.