INCOME TAXES

The provision for income taxes for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, differs from the amount of income tax determined by applying the applicable United States statutory federal income tax rate to income before income taxes as a result of the following:



	Amount			Effective Tax Rate
Statutory federal income tax	$	21.5		21.0	%
State income taxes net of federal tax benefit	6.7			6.5	%
Federal tax reform	(5.4		)	(5.2	)%
Tax repairs	(25.5		)	(24.9	)%
Other	(0.9		)	(0.9	)%
Total income tax benefit	$	(3.6	)	(3.5	)%

The effective tax rate of (3.5)% for the first quarter of 2018 differs from the United States statutory federal income tax rate of 21% primarily due to the flow through of tax repairs in connection with the Wisconsin rate settlement and the impact of the Tax Legislation, partially offset by state income taxes. The Tax Legislation, signed into law in December 2017, required us to remeasure our deferred income taxes and begin to amortize the resulting excess deferred income taxes beginning in 2018 in accordance with normalization requirements (see Federal tax reform line above). See Note 17, Regulatory Environment, for more information on the Tax Legislation and the Wisconsin rate settlement.

On December 22, 2017, the SEC staff issued guidance in Staff Accounting Bulletin 118 (SAB 118), Income Tax Accounting Implications of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which provides for a measurement period of up to one year from the enactment date to complete accounting under GAAP for the tax effects of the legislation. Due to the complex and comprehensive nature of the enacted tax law changes, and their application under GAAP, certain amounts related to bonus depreciation and future tax benefit utilization recorded in the financial statements as a result of the Tax Legislation are to be considered "provisional" as discussed in SAB 118 and subject to revision. We are awaiting additional guidance from industry and income tax authorities in order to finalize our accounting.