INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits, excluding interest and penalties, is as follows (in thousands):

	2011			2010			2009
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning of period	$	7,595		$	7,776		$	7,214
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year		1,476			1,891			1,827
Additions for tax positions of prior years		290			1,565			0
Reductions for tax positions of prior years		(1,005	)		(1,544	)		(60	)
Lapse in statute of limitations		(688	)		(2,093	)		(1,191	)
Settlements		0			0			(14	)
Unrecognized tax benefits, end of the period	$	7,668		$	7,595		$	7,776

Schedule of Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The components of the provision for income taxes consist of the following for the years ended December 31 (in thousands):

	2011		2010		2009
Tax provision:
Federal	$	219,124	$	195,843	$	191,154
State		28,260		25,492		25,436
Foreign		9,958		8,167		10,271
		257,342		229,502		226,861
Deferred provision (benefit)		5,750		7,574		(630	)
Total provision	$	263,092	$	237,076	$	226,231

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes using the statutory federal income tax rate to our effective income tax rate for the years ended December 31 is as follows:

	2011			2010			2009
Federal statutory rate		35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit		2.7			2.7			2.8
Other		0.2			0.3			0.7
		37.9	%		38.0	%		38.5	%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Deferred tax assets (liabilities) are comprised of the following at December 31 (in thousands):

	2011			2010
Deferred tax assets:
Compensation	$	80,577		$	70,915
Receivables		10,375			10,430
Other		7,992			5,307
Deferred tax liabilities:
Intangible assets		(59,122	)		(49,447	)
Prepaid assets		(8,476	)		(8,997	)
Long-lived assets		(18,463	)		(10,095	)
Undistributed earnings of foreign subsidiaries		(5,324	)		(4,807	)
Other		(7	)		(4	)
Net deferred tax assets	$	7,552		$	13,302