Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Provision for income taxes for income from continuing operations

The provision for income taxes for income from continuing operations consists of the following (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
Current:
Federal	$	23,020	$	54,986	$	93,543
State		7,601		11,208		13,577
		30,621		66,194		107,120
Deferred:
Federal		105,771		92,628		16,012
State		1,261		4,859		18,719
		107,032		97,487		34,731
Total provision for income taxes for income from continuing operations	$	137,653	$	163,681	$	141,851

Differences between the statutory federal income tax rate and the effective tax rate

The following table reconciles the differences between the statutory federal income tax rate and the effective tax rate (dollars in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011						2010						2009
	Amount			%			Amount			%			Amount			%
Provision for income taxes at statutory federal rate	$	165,741			35.0	%	$	181,474			35.0	%	$	156,682			35.0	%
State income taxes, net of federal income tax benefit		8,212			1.7			8,847			1.7			9,080			2.0
Release of unrecognized tax benefit		(6,509	)		(1.3	)		—			—			—			—
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests		(26,486	)		(5.6	)		(23,960	)		(4.6	)		(22,006	)		(4.9	)
Change in valuation allowance		—			0.0			(910	)		(0.2	)		1,113			0.3
Federal and state tax credits		(3,788	)		(0.8	)		(2,246	)		(0.4	)		(4,241	)		(0.9	)
Deferred tax revaluation		—			—			—			—			(2,996	)		(0.7	)
Other		483			0.1			476			0.1			4,219			0.9
Provision for income taxes and effective tax rate for income from continuing operations	$	137,653			29.1	%	$	163,681			31.6	%	$	141,851			31.7	%

Components of deferred income taxes

	December 31,
	2011					2010
	Assets			Liabilities		Assets			Liabilities
Net operating loss and credit carryforwards	$	140,825		$	—	$	131,093		$	—
Property and equipment		—			727,366		—			685,089
Self-insurance liabilities		113,640			—		91,246			—
Intangibles		—			201,396		—			169,860
Investments in unconsolidated affiliates		—			62,112		—			48,353
Other liabilities		—			22,050		—			27,045
Long-term debt and interest		—			24,115		—			29,191
Accounts receivable		11,435			—		60,026			—
Accrued expenses		49,575			—		53,842			—
Other comprehensive income		128,170			—		156,597			—
Stock-based compensation		28,894			—		25,472			—
Deferred compensation		42,668			—		41,703			—
Other		57,158			—		24,963			—
		572,365			1,037,039		584,942			959,538
Valuation allowance		(150,254	)		—		(126,644	)		—
Total deferred income taxes	$	422,111		$	1,037,039	$	458,298		$	959,538

Reconciliation of the total amount of unrecognized tax benefit

The following is a tabular reconciliation of the total amount of unrecognized tax benefit for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010 and 2009 (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
Unrecognized tax benefit, beginning of year	$	7,458		$	9,234		$	15,630
Gross (decreases) increases — purchase business combination		—			—			(4,173	)
Gross increases — tax positions in prior period		349			70			—
Reductions — tax positions in prior period		(3,469	)		(1,833	)		—
Lapse of statute of limitations		(3,575	)		—			(663	)
Settlements		(134	)		(13	)		(1,560	)
Unrecognized tax benefit, end of year	$	629		$	7,458		$	9,234