Note 13 - Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

13.               INCOME TAXES:

Provision for Income Taxes

The tax provisions are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2012		2011		2010
Current provision-
Federal	$	8,647	$	3,081	$	3,850
State		1,917		3,203		1,965
		10,564		6,284		5,815
Deferred provision-
Federal		25,752		27,495		9,962
State		2,412		1,185		253
		28,164		28,680		10,215
Provision (benefit) for income taxes	$	38,728	$	34,964	$	16,030

A reconciliation of taxes based on the federal statutory rates and the provisions (benefits) for income taxes are summarized as follows (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2012			2011			2010
Income taxes at the federal statutory rate	$	35,414		$	31,562		$	16,559
State income taxes, net of federal benefit		2,753			2,795			1,418
Tax effect of permanent differences		766			621			542
Alternative fuel tax credits		–			–			(2,461	)
Other, net		(205	)		(14	)		(28	)
Provision for income taxes	$	38,728		$	34,964		$	16,030

Following is a summary of the Company’s income tax provision for the years ended December 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010 (in thousands):

	2012		2011		2010
Income tax provision on continuing operations	$	38,728	$	34,964	$	11,737
Income tax provision from discontinued operations		–		–		4,293
Provision for income taxes	$	38,728	$	34,964	$	16,030

The components of income taxes for other than continuing operations consisted of the following (in thousands):

	2012			2011			2010
Income tax expense (benefit) related to components of other comprehensive income:
Change in fair value of cash flow swaps	$	133		$	(728	)	$	(142	)
Change in fair value of available-for-sale securities		(9	)		(360	)		–
Total	$	124		$	(1,088	)	$	(142	)
Paid in capital – stock based compensation	$	(1,668	)	$	(1,993	)	$	(885	)

The following summarizes the components of deferred tax assets and liabilities included in the balance sheet (in thousands):

	December 31,
	2012			2011
Current:
Deferred tax assets:
Inventory	$	4,424		$	2,944
Accounts receivable		164			178
Capital lease obligations		4,604			4,217
Stock options		1,409			1,145
Accrued liabilities		2,337			2,453
State net operating loss carry forward		905			393
State tax credit		477			527
Other		310			429
Current deferred tax asset	$	14,630		$	12,286
Non-Current:
Deferred tax assets:
Capital lease obligations	$	13,811		$	12,651
Stock options		5,635			4,579
Other		1,679			1,231
		21,125			18,461
Deferred tax liabilities:
Difference between book and tax basis-
Depreciation		(144,881	)		(111,584	)
Net non-current tax liability	$	(123,756	)	$	(93,123	)

The Company’s various state net operating loss carry forwards expire from 2014 through 2024.

The Company included accruals for unrecognized income tax benefits totaling $1.4 million as a component of accrued liabilities as of December 31, 2012, and $1.3 million as of December 31, 2011.  The unrecognized tax benefits of $1.0 million at December 31, 2012, and $1.3 million as of December 31, 2011, if recognized, would impact the Company’s effective tax rate.  An unfavorable settlement would require a charge to income tax expense and a favorable resolution would be recognized as a reduction to income tax expense.  The Company records interest and penalties related to unrecognized income tax benefits in income tax expense.  The Company had accrued interest of $49,000 at December 31, 2012 and $51,000 at December 31, 2011 related to unrecognized tax benefits.  During the years 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company recognized approximately ($2,294), ($78,748), and ($4,348) in interest.  No amounts were accrued for penalties.

The Company does not anticipate a significant change in the amount of unrecognized tax benefits in the next 12 months.  As of December 31, 2012, the tax years ended December 31, 2009 through 2012 remained subject to audit by federal tax authorities and the tax years ended December 31, 2008 through 2012, remained subject to audit by state tax authorities.

A reconciliation of the change in the unrecognized tax benefits is as follows (in thousands):

	2012			2011			2010
Unrecognized tax benefits at beginning of period	$	1,337		$	1,466		$	1,761
Gross increases – tax positions in current year		358			290			177
Gross increases – tax positions in a prior year		267			119			–
Reductions due to lapse of statute of limitations		(553	)		(538	)		(472	)
Unrecognized tax benefits at end of period	$	1,409		$	1,337		$	1,466