Income Taxes (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

Income Tax Contingency [Line Items]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

Note 5. Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted tax reform legislation as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Act") that reduced the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% and included a broad range of complex provisions affecting the taxation of businesses. Generally, financial statement recognition of the new legislation would be required to be completed in the period of enactment; however, in response to the complexities of this new legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 to provide companies with transitional relief. Specifically, when the initial accounting for items under the new legislation is incomplete, the guidance allows the recognition of provisional amounts when reasonable estimates can be made or the continued application of the prior tax law if a reasonable estimate of the effect cannot be made. The SEC staff has provided up to one year from the date of enactment for companies to finalize the accounting for the effects of this new legislation. Although no changes were made to provisional amounts during the three months ended March 31, 2018, we will continue to refine our estimates related to the new legislation as clarifying guidance and interpretations are issued and our 2017 tax returns are completed.

The Company’s effective tax rate decreased to 25.9% for the first quarter of 2018 from 38.6% for the same quarter last year. The decrease in the tax rate was primarily due to the tax reform legislation discussed above. The Company’s effective tax rate generally exceeds the federal statutory rate due to the impact of state taxes and, to a lesser extent, certain other non-deductible items.