Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes relates primarily to the taxable income of the Company's taxable REIT subsidiaries. The earnings, other than in taxable REIT subsidiaries, of the Company are not generally subject to federal income taxes at the Company level due to the REIT election made by the Company.

Income taxes have been provided for on the asset and liability method. Under the asset and liability method, deferred income taxes are recognized for the temporary differences between the financial reporting basis and the tax basis of assets and liabilities.

The Company's provision for income taxes for the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016 is summarized as follows:



	2018			2017			2016
Current:
Federal	$	(60	)	$	(107	)	$	(140	)
State and local	(1,668		)	(1,810		)	(1,299		)
NOL utilized	—			—			59
Deferred:
Federal	—			—			(44		)
State and local	—			—			(15		)
	$	(1,728	)	$	(1,917	)	$	(1,439	)

The income tax provision differs from the amount computed by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to pre-tax operating income as follows:



	2018			2017			2016
Federal provision at statutory tax rate (21% for 2018 and 34% for 2017 and 2016)	$	(65	)	$	(182	)	$	(154	)
State and local taxes, net of federal benefit	(11		)	(40		)	(30		)
Other	(1,652		)	(1,695		)	(1,255		)
	$	(1,728	)	$	(1,917	)	$	(1,439	)

For the years ended December 31, 2018, 2017 and 2016, the “other” amount is comprised primarily of state franchise taxes of $1,679, $1,598 and $1,252, respectively.

A summary of the average taxable nature of the Company's common dividends for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, is as follows:



	2018			2017			2016
Total dividends per share	$	0.710		$	0.700		$	0.685
Ordinary income	87.89		%	59.93		%	96.73		%
Qualifying dividend	0.14		%	0.15		%	0.22		%
Capital gain	—			—			—
Return of capital	11.97		%	39.92		%	3.05		%
	100.00		%	100.00		%	100.00		%

A summary of the average taxable nature of the Company's dividend on shares of its Series C Preferred for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2018, is as follows:



	2018			2017			2016
Total dividends per share	$	3.25		$	3.25		$	3.25
Ordinary income	99.84		%	99.75		%	99.78		%
Qualifying dividend	0.16		%	0.25		%	0.22
Capital gain	—			—			—
Return of capital	—			—			—
	100.00		%	100.00		%	100.00		%