Income Taxes (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

8. Income Taxes

Income tax expense included in our accompanying consolidated statements of operations are as follows (in millions, except percentages):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2020			2019
Income tax expense	$	60		$	172
Effective tax rate	(26.0		)%	23.3		%

Total tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2020 is approximately $60 million resulting in an effective tax rate of (26.0)%, as compared with $172 million tax expense and an effective tax rate of 23.3%, for the same period of 2019.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2020 is “negative” in relation to the statutory federal rate of 21% primarily due to the $600 million CO₂ reporting unit impairment of non tax deductible goodwill contributing to our loss before income taxes but not providing a tax benefit, partially offset by the refund of alternative minimum tax sequestration credits and dividend-received deductions from our investments in Citrus Corporation (Citrus) and Plantation Pipe Line Company (Plantation). While we would normally expect a federal income tax benefit from our loss before income taxes for the three months ended March 31, 2020, because the tax benefit is not allowed on the goodwill impairment, we incurred an income tax expense for the period.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 is higher than the statutory federal rate of 21% primarily due to state and foreign taxes. These increases were partially offset by dividend-received deductions from our investments in Citrus, NGPL Holdings LLC and Plantation.