INCOME TAXES (Notes)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

We generally record our interim tax provision based upon a projection of our annual effective tax rate ("AETR"). This AETR is applied to the year-to-date consolidated pre-tax income to determine the interim provision for income taxes before discrete items. We update the AETR on a quarterly basis as the pre-tax income projections are revised and tax laws are enacted. The effective tax rate ("ETR") each period is impacted by a number of factors, including the relative mix of domestic and international earnings, adjustments to the valuation allowances and discrete items. The currently forecasted ETR may vary from the actual year-end due to the changes in these factors.

Our global ETR for the six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 was 25% and 16%, including discrete tax items. The current year increase in the ETR was primarily due to the effect of the overall increase in pre-tax income.