Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

(13) Income Taxes

Effective Income Tax Rate and Income Tax Provision

Our loss before income taxes was reduced by an income tax benefit of $8 million (an income tax benefit rate of 58.3%) for the three months ended March 31, 2012. Our earnings before income taxes was reduced by an income tax provision of $22 million (an effective tax rate of 27.1%) for the three months ended March 31, 2011.

For the three months ended March 31, 2012, our income tax benefit exceeded the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate of 35% because of losses in jurisdictions, such as the U.S., with high tax rates, while we had earnings in other jurisdictions with low tax rates. We also reached favorable settlements of certain tax disputes during this period.

For the three months ended March 31, 2011, our effective income tax rate was lower than the statutory U.S. federal income tax rate of 35% primarily due to our lower net effective income tax rate on foreign earnings, our domestic manufacturing deduction and certain U.S. tax credits partially offset by state income taxes.

Unrecognized Tax Benefits

There have been no material changes to the Company’s unrecognized tax benefits as reported at March 31, 2012, nor have we changed our policy with regard to the reporting of penalties and interest related to unrecognized tax benefits.