Income Taxes

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Taxes

INCOME TAXES

Our effective tax rate increased to 26.4 percent for the 2019 third quarter from 15.4 percent for the 2018 third quarter, primarily due to the prior year tax benefits from dispositions and lower benefits resulting from finalizing prior years’ returns.

Our effective tax rate increased to 21.9 percent for the 2019 first three quarters from 20.5 percent for the 2018 first three quarters, primarily due to the 2018 release of tax reserves, the prior year benefits from dispositions, and the non-tax deductible accrual for the loss contingency related to the Proposed ICO Fine discussed in Note 6. The increase was partially offset by a shift in earnings to jurisdictions with lower tax rates, the prior year tax expense for uncertain tax positions, and the prior year state income tax expense for the future remittance of accumulated earnings of non-U.S. subsidiaries.

We paid cash for income taxes, net of refunds, of $376 million in the 2019 first three quarters and $567 million in the 2018 first three quarters.