Note 10 - Income Taxes

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Notes to Financial Statements

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

10.      INCOME TAXES

The income tax provision (benefit) consisted of the following (in thousands):

	Current		Deferred			Total
Year Ended December 31, 2019
U.S. Federal	$	1,249	$	43,270		$	44,519
State and local		3,678		7,036			10,714
Total	$	4,927	$	50,306		$	55,233
Year Ended December 31, 2018
U.S. Federal	$	10,214	$	32,176		$	42,390
State and local		2,284		2,550			4,834
Total	$	12,498	$	34,726		$	47,224
Year Ended December 31, 2017
U.S. Federal	$	38,033	$	(91,271	)	$	(53,238	)
State and local		4,164		4,046			8,210
Total	$	42,197	$	(87,225	)	$	(45,028	)

The income tax provision (benefit) is different than the amount of income tax calculated by applying the U.S. Federal statutory rate of 21.0% for 2019 and 2018 and 35.0% for 2017 to income before income taxes as a result of the following items (in thousands):

	Year Ended December 31,
	2019			2018			2017
U.S. Federal taxes at statutory rate	$	49,101		$	44,517		$	66,550
State and local taxes, net of U.S. Federal tax		8,464			3,816			5,487
Benefit from remeasurement of deferred taxes due to U.S. Federal tax reform legislation		-			-			(113,976	)
Equity-based compensation		(5,296	)		(3,690	)		(3,089	)
Section 162(m) limitation		656			113			-
Other items		2,308			2,468			-
Income tax provision (benefit)	$	55,233		$	47,224		$	(45,028	)

The net deferred income tax liability consisted of the following (in thousands):

	As of December 31,
	2019		2018
Other benefit obligations	$	1,890	$	1,940
Equity-based compensation		4,563		4,080
Net operating losses		25,532		1,983
Accrued bonus		2,313		1,826
Reserves		1,134		365
Interest rate swap		22,101		-
Other items		2,104		1,204
Deferred tax assets		59,637		11,398
Property, plant and equipment		201,208		119,851
Goodwill and other intangible assets		159,074		131,765
Prepaid commissions		2,127		1,909
Other items		542		-
Deferred tax liabilities		362,951		253,525
Net deferred income tax liability	$	303,314	$	242,127

The Company has no valuation allowances against any of its deferred tax assets.

There were $21.9 million of tax-effected U.S. Federal tax net operating losses available for carryforward at December 31, 2019, of which $8.5 million were generated by NewWave and Clearwave prior to their acquisitions. Of this amount, $20.0 million can be carried forward indefinitely and $1.9 million will have expiration dates through 2036. The use of pre-acquisition operating losses is subject to limitations imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. The Company does not anticipate that these limitations will affect utilization of the carryforwards prior to their expiration. The Company had $3.6 million of tax-effected state tax net operating loss carryforwards at December 31, 2019, of which $0.2 million can be carried forward indefinitely and $3.4 million will have expiration dates through 2039.

The Company endeavors to comply with tax laws and regulations where it does business, but cannot guarantee that, if challenged, the Company’s interpretation of all relevant tax laws and regulations will prevail and that all tax benefits recorded in the consolidated financial statements will ultimately be recognized in full. The Company has taken reasonable efforts to address uncertain tax positions and has determined that there are no material transactions and no material tax positions taken by the Company that would fail to meet the more-likely-than-not threshold for recognizing transactions or tax positions in the consolidated financial statements. Accordingly, the Company has not recorded a reserve for uncertain tax positions in the consolidated financial statements, and the Company does not expect any significant tax increase or decrease to occur within the next 12 months with respect to any transactions or tax positions taken and reflected in the consolidated financial statements. In making these determinations, the Company presumes that taxing authorities pursuing examinations of the Company’s compliance with tax law filing requirements will have full knowledge of all relevant information, and, if necessary, the Company will pursue resolution of disputed tax positions by appeals or litigation. The Company recognizes penalties and interest, if applicable, associated with any uncertain tax positions within selling, general and administrative expenses in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.