Two investments involving a granary qualify for different property classes. Investment A costs \($70,000\) with \($3,000\) salvage value after 16 years and is depreciated as MACRS-GDS in the 10-year property class. Investment B costs \($110,000\) with a \($4,000\) salvage value after 16 years and is in the MACRS-GDS 5-year property class. Operation and maintenance for each is expected to be \($18,000\) and \($14,000\) per year, respectively. The marginal tax rate is 40 percent, and MARR is 9 percent after taxes.

a. Determine which alternative is less costly, based upon comparison of after-tax annual worth.

b. What must the cost of the second (more expensive) investment be for there to be no economic advantage between the two?