Easy Car Corp. is a grocery store located in the Southwest. It paid an annual dividend of $$4\mathrm{.}00$ last year to its shareholders and plans to increase the dividend annually at the rate of $3\mathrm{.}0\%.$ It currently has $2,000,000$ common shares outstanding. The shares currently sell for $$18$ each. The common stock beta is $1\mathrm{.}0.$ Easy Car Corp. also has $20,000$ semiannual bonds outstanding with a coupon rate of $10\%,$ a maturity of $30$ years, and a par value of $$1,000.$ The bonds currently have a yield to maturity $($YTM$)$ of $14\%.$ The risk$-$free rate is $1\%$ and the market risk premium is $6\%.$

What is the best estimate of the cost of equity for Easy Car Corp. if the corporate tax rate is $40\%?$