The following table summarizes the Company’s income tax benefit and effective income tax rate for the three month periods ended December 31, 2018 and 2017.

	Three Months Ended December 31,
	2018			2017
Loss before income taxes	$	(11,962	)	$	(32,215	)
Income tax (benefit)		(3,135	)		(51,539	)
Effective income tax rate		26.2	%		106.1	%

For the three month period ended December 31, 2018, when compared to the same three month period of 2017, the decrease in the effective tax benefit is primarily related to the benefit recognized in the three months ended December 31, 2017 as a result of the comprehensive tax legislation, H.R.1, originally known as the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), enacted on December 22, 2017. As a result of the reduction in the U.S. corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% under the Tax Act, the Company revalued its ending net deferred tax liabilities at December 31, 2017 and recognized a $40,515 tax benefit in the Company’s consolidated statement of operations for the three months ended December 31, 2017. Due to the Company’s fiscal year ending September 30, the Company utilized a federal blended tax rate of 24.5% for fiscal 2018, consistent with Section 15 of the Internal Revenue Code, and has appropriately applied the new corporate income tax rate of 21% for fiscal 2019, attributing to a decrease in effective tax rate of 3.5%. The effective tax rate excluding the revaluation of deferred taxes for the three months ended December 31, 2017 was 34.3%. In addition, year over year changes in state tax expense in the effective tax rate are primarily attributable to the distribution of income amongst various states.