Note 17 - Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

17. Income Taxes

The following table presents the provision for (benefit from) income taxes for the respective periods:

	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
(dollars in thousands)	2019			2018			2019			2018
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes	$	3,474		$	8,692		$	(37,451	)	$	7,357
Effective tax rate		13.7	%		12.8	%		26.6	%		14.5	%

Our effective tax rate remained relatively unchanged for the three months ended September 30, 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018 due to the impact of discrete items relative to income (loss) before provision for (benefit from) income taxes. Our effective tax rate increased to 26.6% for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 from 14.5% when compared to the same period in 2018.  This change was primarily due to a $37.0 million discrete tax benefit recorded in 2019 on the decrease to project profitability as it relates to four legacy, unconsolidated heavy civil joint venture projects compared to a net $3.5 million discrete tax benefit recorded in 2018 due to adjustments to provisional amounts related to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 which was partially offset by a discrete tax expense on one-time nondeductible acquisition and integration expenses