NOTE 17. INCOME TAXES

The following table displays our Loss from continuing operations before income tax, Income tax expense and Effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and 2018 (dollars in thousands):



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2019			2018
Loss from continuing operations before income tax	$	(1,709	)	$	(482,247	)
Income tax expense	$	10,903		$	15,491
Effective tax rate	(638.0		)%	(3.2		)%

The income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2019 primarily relates to a taxable gain arising from the extinguishment of debt in the March 2019 Refinancing Transactions. As of March 31, 2019, we had valuation allowances established against our deferred tax assets in most jurisdictions in which we operate, with the exception of Canada and India. The income tax expense for the comparable 2018 period primarily relates to the geographic mix of pre-tax earnings and discrete tax expense incurred in connection with an intercompany asset restructuring.