Wendy's boss wants to use straight-line depreciation for the new expansion project because he said it will give higher net income in earlier years and give him a larger bonus. The project will last 4 years and requires $1,700,000 of equipment. The company could use either straight line or the 3-year MACRS accelerated method. Under straightline depreciation, the cost of the equipment would be depreciated evenly over its 4-year life. (Ignore the half-year convention for the straight-line method.) The applicable MACRS depreciation rates are 33.33%, 44.45%, 14.81%, and 7.41%, as discussed in Appendix 11A. The project cost of capital is 10%, and its tax rate is 25%.

b. Which depreciation method would produce the higher NPV, and how much higher would it be?