Note 14 - Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

1 4 . Income Taxes

Our overall effective income tax rates were

27.1%

and

23.3%

for the

three

months ended

March 31, 2019

and

2018,

respectively, resulting in income tax expense of

$15.1

million and

$11.8

million for the same periods, respectively. The year-over-year increase in our effective tax rate for the

three

months ended

March 31, 2019

was due to a

$1.2

million benefit from energy tax credits which reduced our

2018

first

quarter tax rate. It is currently uncertain as to the extent, if any, that energy tax credits will impact our

2019

results, and therefore

no

benefit was recorded for the

2019

first

quarter.

At

March 31, 2019

and

December 31, 2018

we had deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowances and deferred tax liabilities, of

$34.5

million and

$37.2

million, respectively. The valuation allowances were primarily related to various state net operating loss carryforwards where realization is more uncertain at this time due to the limited carryforward periods coupled with minimal operating activity that exists in certain states.