Note 13 - Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2015

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

13. Income Taxes

At the end of each interim period, we are required to estimate our annual effective tax rate for the fiscal year and use that rate to provide for income taxes for the current year-to-date reporting period. Our overall effective income tax rates were 37.5% and 37.3% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively, compared to 35.4% and 36.7% for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014, respectively. The rates for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 resulted in income tax expense of $8.9 million and $25.7 million, respectively, compared to income tax expense of $8.5 million and $28.1 million for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014.

At September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014 we had deferred tax assets, net of deferred tax liabilities, of $128.4 million and $153.5 million, respectively. Included in our deferred tax assets at September 30, 2015 are $19.6 million and $33.6 million of federal and state net operating loss carryforwards, respectively. Our net deferred tax assets at September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2014 were partially offset by valuation allowances of $13.2 million and $13.0 million, respectively, related to (1) various state net operating loss carryforwards where realization is more uncertain at this time due to the more limited carryforward periods that exist in certain states and (2) the portion of the amount by which the carrying value of our Metro Bonds for tax purposes exceeds our carrying value for book purposes, as we believe realization of that portion is more uncertain at this time.