INCOME TAXES (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Components of the provision for income taxes consist of the following ($ in thousands):



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014

Current expense (benefit)
U.S. Federal	$	9,020	$	23,609
State and local	2,637		10,170
Total current expense (benefit)	11,657		33,779
Deferred expense (benefit)
U.S. Federal	2,247		(4,357		)
State and local	653		(2,817		)
Total deferred expense (benefit)	2,900		(7,174		)
Provision for Income tax expense (benefit)	$	14,557	$	26,605

Schedule of Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

A reconciliation between the U.S. federal statutory income tax rate and the effective tax rate for the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014 is as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2015		2014

US statutory tax rate	35.00	%	35.00	%
REIT income not subject to corporate income tax	(32.37	)%	—	%
Increase due to state and local taxes	1.40	%	3.78	%
Deferred tax asset write-off upon conversion to REIT	1.44	%	—	%
Change in valuation allowance	3.29	%	—	%
Other	0.39	%	(17.37	)%
Effective income tax rate	9.15	%	21.41	%

Schedule of components of the Company's deferred tax assets and liabilities

The components of the Company’s deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows ($ in thousands):



	December 31, 2015			December 31, 2014

Deferred Tax Assets
Basis difference in operating partnerships	$	3,089		$	6,795
Tax intangibles	910			778
Unrealized gains (losses)	971			616
Unrealized gains (losses) - derivatives	5,239			—
Valuation allowance	(5,239		)	—
Total Deferred Tax Assets	$	4,970		$	8,189