INCOME TAXES

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

INCOME TAXES

INCOME TAXES

NOTE 8—INCOME TAXES

        For the three months ended March 31, 2012 and 2011, we recorded a tax provision (benefit) of $(2.1) million and $0.3 million, respectively, which represents effective tax rates of 39.5% and (1.7)%, respectively. In the first quarter of 2012, the tax rate is higher than the federal statutory rate of 35% primarily due to the impact of state income taxes. In the first quarter of 2011, our tax rate was lower than the federal statutory rate of 35% due to a change in the valuation allowance on deferred tax assets.

        For the three months ended March 31, 2012, we used the standard method of calculating a projected annual tax rate to determine the current period's tax provision. For the three months ended March 31, 2011, we determined that our activity yielded an unusual effective tax rate for this period; therefore, we utilized the actual year to date effective tax rate for purposes of determining year-to-date tax expense.