(10) Income Taxes

The components of the provision for income taxes are as follows:

	Year Ended
(Dollars in thousands)	October 1, 2016			October 3, 2015			September 27, 2014
Provision for income taxes:
Current:
Federal	$	17,075		$	10,149		$	8,196
State		1,434			772			330
		18,509			10,921			8,526
Deferred:
Federal		396			222			(323	)
State		140			111			364
		536			333			41

Income taxes	$	19,045		$	11,254		$	8,567

Effective income tax rate		33.8	%		34.1	%		34.0	%

The reconciliation between income taxes computed at the federal statutory rate and the provision for income taxes is as follows:

	Year Ended
(Dollars in thousands)	October 1, 2016					October 3, 2015					September 27, 2014
Provision for income taxes at federal statutory rate	$	19,701		35.0	%	$	11,537		35.0	%	$	8,823		35.0	%
Qualified production activities deduction		(1,596	)	(2.8	)		(1,005	)	(3.0	)		(755	)	(3.0	)
Valuation allowance		(213	)	(0.4	)		(55	)	(0.2	)		(183	)	(0.7	)
State income taxes, net of federal tax benefit		1,093		1.9			612		1.9			577		2.3
Other, net		60		0.1			165		0.4			105		0.4
Provision for income taxes	$	19,045		33.8	%	$	11,254		34.1	%	$	8,567		34.0	%

The components of deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

	October 1,			October 3,
(In thousands)	2016			2015
Deferred tax assets:
Defined benefit plans	$	3,497		$	3,755
Accrued expenses and asset reserves		2,942			2,596
Stock-based compensation		1,652			2,054
State net operating loss carryforwards and tax credits		354			658
Goodwill, amortizable for tax purposes		277			559
Valuation allowance		(280	)		(492	)
Deferred tax assets		8,442			9,130

Deferred tax liabilities:
Plant and equipment		(12,915	)		(12,285	)
Prepaid insurance and other reserves		(999	)		(1,410	)
Deferred tax liabilities		(13,914	)		(13,695	)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(5,472	)	$	(4,565	)

In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU No. 2015-17 “Income Taxes (Topic 740) - Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes” to simplify the presentation of deferred income taxes. Under this update, all deferred tax assets and liabilities, along with any related valuation allowance, are required to be classified as noncurrent on the balance sheet. Effective January 2, 2016, we early adopted ASU No. 2015-17 on a prospective basis, which resulted in the reclassification of our current deferred tax asset as a non-current deferred tax liability on our consolidated balance sheet. No prior periods were retrospectively adjusted.

As of October 1, 2016, we recorded a non-current deferred tax liability (net of valuation allowance) of $5.5 million in other liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet. As of October 3, 2015, we recorded a current deferred tax asset (net of valuation allowance) of $1.5 million on our consolidated balance sheet in other current assets and a non-current deferred tax liability (net of valuation allowance) of $6.1 million in other liabilities. We have $7.5 million of state operating loss carryforwards that begin to expire in 2017, but principally expire between 2017 and 2031. We have also recorded deferred tax assets for various state tax credits of $87,000, which will begin to expire in 2018 and principally expire between 2018 and 2020.

The realization of our deferred tax assets is entirely dependent upon our ability to generate future taxable income in applicable jurisdictions. GAAP requires that we periodically assess the need to establish a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets to the extent we no longer believe it is more likely than not that they will be fully utilized. As of October 1, 2016, we had recorded a valuation allowance of $280,000 pertaining to various state NOLs and tax credits that were not expected to be utilized. The valuation allowance is subject to periodic review and adjustment based on changes in facts and circumstances and would be reduced should we utilize the state net operating loss carryforwards against which an allowance had previously been provided or determine that such utilization is more likely than not. The $212,000 decrease in the valuation allowance during 2016 is primarily due to the utilization of state tax credits for which an allowance had been previously recorded.

As of October 1, 2016, we had no material, known tax exposures that required the establishment of contingency reserves for uncertain tax positions.

We classify interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits as part of income tax expense. There were no interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits incurred during 2016, 2015 and 2014.

We file U.S. federal income tax returns as well as state and local income tax returns in various jurisdictions. Federal and various state tax returns filed subsequent to 2011 remain subject to examination.