Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2016

NOTE 5 – INCOME TAXES

Income Tax Expense
The Company’s income tax expense for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, consisted of the following components:

(In thousands)	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2016		2015
Current tax expense	$	(10,749)	$	(40,385)
Deferred tax benefit (expense)		1,256		(16,220)
Income tax expense	$	(9,493)	$	(56,605)

The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2016 was (19.2)% and for the three months ended March 31, 2015 was (17.2)%. The 2016 and 2015 effective tax rates were primarily impacted by the valuation allowance recorded against deferred tax assets resulting from current period net operating losses in U.S. federal, state and certain foreign jurisdictions due to the uncertainty of the ability to utilize those assets in future periods.