Income Taxes

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Income Taxes [Abstract]

Income Taxes

9.INCOME TAXES

A reconciliation of the U.S. federal statutory rate to our effective tax rate is as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2012		2011
U.S. federal statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%
State income taxes	1.4	%	1.7	%
Changes in reserve for uncertain tax positions as a result of settlements and lapsed statutes and related interest	-0.4	%	-1.0	%
Other	0.1	%	0.1	%
Effective tax rate	36.1	%	35.8	%

The differences between the U.S. federal statutory rate and our effective tax rate are primarily due to state income taxes and reserves for uncertain tax positions and related interest that are included in the provision for income taxes.

The increase in the effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2012, as compared to 2011, is primarily due to a $0.5 million refund we received in the first quarter of 2011 as part of a resolution of a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), partially offset by changes in the reserve for uncertain tax positions.