INCOME TAXES

The following table sets out the tax expense and the effective tax rate for our income from continuing operations:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015			2016			2015
Income from continuing operations before income taxes	$	34,306		$	29,446		$	89,449		$	90,930
Provision for income taxes	5,268			6,133			12,937			18,938
Effective tax rate	15.4		%	20.8		%	14.5		%	20.8		%

The effective tax rates for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 are lower than the federal statutory rate primarily due to the benefit of the earnings in foreign jurisdictions which are subject to lower tax rates.

Our policy is to classify accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in our income tax provision. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, the amount of interest and penalties accrued related to our unrecognized tax benefits was not significant.