Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

May 31, 2023

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

Note 12. Income Taxes

The Company's global operations, acquisition activity (as applicable) and specific tax attributes provide opportunities for continuous global tax planning initiatives to maximize tax credits and deductions. Comparative earnings before income taxes, income tax expense and effective income tax rates from continuing operations are as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Three Months Ended May 31,						Nine Months Ended May 31,
	2023			2022			2023			2022
Earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense	$	21,664		$	5,438		$	40,602		$	13,862
Income tax expense	4,688			1,377			10,058			4,495
Effective income tax rate	21.6		%	25.3		%	24.8		%	32.4		%

The Company’s earnings from continuing operations before income taxes include earnings from both U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. As several foreign tax rates are higher than the U.S. tax rate of 21%, the annual effective tax rate is impacted by foreign rate differentials, withholding taxes, losses in jurisdictions where no benefit can be realized, and various aspects of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, such as the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income and Foreign-Derived Intangible Income provisions.

The effective tax rate for the three months ended May 31, 2023 was 21.6%, compared to 25.3% for the comparable prior-year period. The effective tax rate in each time period was significantly impacted by year-to-date losses and deductions in jurisdictions where no tax benefit can be realized. The lower effective tax rate for the three months ended May 31, 2023 was primarily due to tax benefits driven by uncertain tax position releases related to statute expirations. Both the current and prior-year effective income tax rates include the impact of non-recurring items.