Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

The following table discloses significant components of income taxes for each year presented:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2019		2018		2017
Income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations:
Current income tax expense (benefit)	$	134,948	$	134,626	$	138,262
Deferred income tax expense (benefit)	35,449		27,535		(765,877)
	170,397		162,161		(627,615)
Shareholders’ equity:
Other comprehensive income (loss)	405,472		(293,678)		318,475
	$	575,869	$	(131,517)	$	(309,140)

Summary of Effective Income Tax Rate

The effective income tax rate differed from the expected U.S. federal statutory rate of 21% for 2019 and 2018 and 35% for 2017 as shown below:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2019		%	2018		%	2017		%
Expected federal income tax expense (benefit)	$	195,569	21.0	$	181,371	21.0	$	290,727	35.0

Increase (reduction) in income taxes resulting from:
Tax reform adjustment	—		—	(798)		(0.1)	(877,400)		(105.6)
Low income housing investments	(11,605)		(1.2)	(12,240)		(1.4)	(18,515)		(2.2)
Share-based awards	(11,780)		(1.3)	(6,450)		(0.7)	(19,549)		(2.4)
Other	(1,787)		(0.2)	278		—	(2,878)		(0.4)
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	170,397	18.3	$	162,161	18.8	$	(627,615)	(75.6)

Significant Portions of Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

The tax effects of temporary differences that gave rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are presented below:


	December 31,
	2019		2018
Deferred tax assets:
Fixed maturity investments	$	6,161	$	6,131
Carryover of tax losses	7,827		7,406
Total gross deferred tax assets	13,988		13,537
Deferred tax liabilities:
Unrealized gains	493,174		87,871
Employee and agent compensation	81,174		70,551
Deferred acquisition costs	658,457		633,687
Future policy benefits, unearned and advance premiums, and policy claims	242,124		242,285
Other liabilities	26,271		25,603
Total gross deferred tax liabilities	1,501,200		1,059,997
Net deferred tax liability	$	1,487,212	$	1,046,460