INCOME TAXES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2022

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

The provision for income taxes differs from the amount of income tax determined by applying the applicable United States statutory federal income tax rate to income before income taxes as a result of the following:

	Three Months Ended March 31, 2022				Three Months Ended March 31, 2021
(in millions)	Amount		Effective Tax Rate		Amount		Effective Tax Rate
Statutory federal income tax	$	145.5	21.0	%	$	122.8	21.0	%
State income taxes net of federal tax benefit	43.6		6.3	%	36.9		6.3	%
PTCs	(44.8)		(6.5)	%	(34.0)		(5.8)	%
Federal excess deferred tax amortization	(15.8)		(2.3)	%	(14.6)		(2.5)	%
Federal excess deferred tax amortization – Wisconsin unprotected	(0.3)		—	%	(30.3)		(5.2)	%
Uncertain tax positions	—		—	%	(8.2)		(1.4)	%
Other	(1.1)		(0.2)	%	2.3		0.4	%
Total income tax expense	$	127.1	18.3	%	$	74.9	12.8	%

The effective tax rate of 18.3% for the three months ended March 31, 2022, differs from the United States statutory federal income tax rate of 21%, primarily due to PTCs generated from ownership interests in wind generation facilities in our non-utility energy infrastructure segment and the impact of the protected deferred tax benefits associated with the Tax Legislation, as discussed in more detail below. These items were partially offset by state income taxes.

The effective tax rate of 12.8% for the three months ended March 31, 2021, differs from the United States statutory federal income tax rate of 21%, primarily due to PTCs generated from ownership interests in wind generation facilities in our non-utility energy infrastructure segment and the recognition of certain unprotected deferred tax benefits created as a result of the Tax Legislation. Effective January 1, 2020, in accordance with the rate order received from the PSCW in December 2019, our Wisconsin utilities began amortizing the unprotected deferred tax benefits over periods ranging from two years to four years, to reduce near-term rate impacts to their customers. In addition, the impact of the protected benefits associated with the Tax Legislation, as discussed in more detail below, drove a decrease in the effective tax rate. These items were partially offset by state income taxes.

The Tax Legislation required our regulated utilities to remeasure their deferred income taxes and we began to amortize the resulting excess protected deferred income taxes beginning in 2018 in accordance with normalization requirements (see federal excess deferred tax amortization line above).

See Note 26, Regulatory Environment, in our 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on unprotected tax benefits.