You must evaluate the purchase of a proposed spectrometer for the R&D department. The base price is $270,000, and it would cost another $40,500 to modify the equipment for special use by the firm. The equipment falls into the MACRS 3-year class and would be sold after 3 years for $81,000. The applicable depreciation rates are 33%, 45%, 15%, and 7%. The equipment would require an $12,000 increase in net operating working capital (spare parts inventory). The project would have no effect on revenues, but it should save the firm $71,000 per year in before-tax labor costs. The firm's marginal federal-plus-state tax rate is 40%. The data has been collected in the Microsoft Excel Online file below. Open the spreadsheet and perform the required analysis to answer the questions below.

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