Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 7 - Income Taxes

Income tax expense was $7,234,000 for the first quarter of 2020 as compared to $7,367,000 for the same period in 2019. The Company’s effective tax rates on pretax income were 16.27% and 16.15% for the first quarters of 2020 and 2019, respectively. The effective tax rates differ from the statutory federal tax rate of 21% primarily due to tax exempt interest income earned on certain investment securities and loans, the deductibility of dividends paid to our employee stock ownership plan and excess tax benefits related to our directors’ deferred compensation plan.