Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Components Of Income Taxes

The components of income taxes were as follows:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			2010			2009
Income tax expense from continuing operations	$	226,166		$	246,475		$	179,297
Income tax expense from discontinued operations		(467	)		11,830			9,216
Shareholders’ equity:
Other comprehensive income (loss)		284,355			184,305			458,358
Tax basis compensation expense (from the exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock awards) in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes		(13,121	)		(3,455	)		(253	)
	$	496,933		$	439,155		$	646,618

Income Tax Expense From Continuing Operations

Income tax expense from continuing operations consists of:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011		2010		2009
Current income tax expense	$	169,500	$	147,346	$	147,917
Deferred income tax expense		56,666		99,129		31,380
	$	226,166	$	246,475	$	179,297

Summary Of Effective Income Tax Rate

The effective income tax rate differed from the expected 35% rate as shown below:

	Year Ended December 31,
	2011			%			2010			%			2009			%
Expected income taxes	$	253,324			35.0	%	$	262,700			35.0	%	$	190,250			35.0	%
Increase (reduction) in income taxes resulting from:
Tax-exempt investment income		(3,468	)		(.5	)		(3,371	)		(.5	)		(3,483	)		(.6	)
Tax settlements		0			0			0			0			(3,101	)		(.6	)
Low income housing investments		(24,258	)		(3.4	)		(12,900	)		(1.7	)		(6,038	)		(1.1	)
Other		568			.1			46			0			1,669			.3
Income tax expense	$	226,166			31.2	%	$	246,475			32.8	%	$	179,297			33.0	%

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,
	2011		2010
Deferred tax assets:
Fixed maturity investments	$	35,670	$	50,126
Carryover of tax losses		7,429		12,293
Unrealized losses		0		2,023
Other assets		5,509		1,352
Total gross deferred tax assets		48,608		65,794
Deferred tax liabilities:
Unrealized gains		276,591		0
Employee and agent compensation		57,136		55,781
Deferred acquisition costs		712,974		689,684
Future policy benefits, unearned and advance premiums, and policy claims		355,825		338,771
Total gross deferred tax liabilities		1,402,526		1,084,236
Net deferred tax liability	$	1,353,918	$	1,018,442

Reconciliation Of Beginning And Ending Amount Of Unrecognized Tax Benefits

A reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of unrecognized tax benefits (excluding effects of accrued interest, net of Federal tax benefits) for the years 2009 through 2011 is as follows:

	2011			2010			2009
Balance at January 1,	$	875		$	3,960		$	8,481
Increase based on tax positions taken in current period		0			245			73
Increase related to tax positions taken in prior periods		0			280			0
Decrease related to tax positions taken in prior periods		(875	)		(3,610	)		(4,594	)
Decrease due to settlements		0			0			0
Balance at December 31,	$	0		$	875		$	3,960