(5) INCOME TAXES

Income tax (benefit) expense was as follows (in thousands):

		Three Months Ended March 31,
		2016			2015
Income tax (benefit) expense	$	(44,038	)	$	22,366
Effective tax rate		32.4	%		44.7	%

We compute our quarterly taxes under the effective tax rate method based on applying an anticipated annual effective rate to our year-to-date income, except for discrete items. Income taxes for discrete items are computed and recorded in the period that the specific transaction occurs. For first quarter ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, our overall effective tax rate was different than the federal statutory rate of 35% due primarily to state income taxes, valuation allowances and other permanent differences. The first quarter 2016 includes tax expense of $4.5 million related to an increase in our valuation allowance for state net operating loss carryforwards that we do not believe are realizable and an income tax benefit of $96,000 to adjust the valuation allowance on our deferred tax asset related to future deferred compensation plan distributions of our senior executives. In addition, we recorded income tax expense of $3.6 million related to equity compensation because we no longer have a hypothetical additional paid-in capital pool (“APIC Pool”) available to offset reduced tax benefits for the excess of financial accounting compensation expense over the corporate income tax deduction. The hypothetical APIC Pool represents the tax benefit of the cumulative excess of corporate income tax deductions over financial accounting compensation expense recognized for equity-based compensation awards which have fully vested. The APIC Pool will increase or decrease each year as equity awards vest. Shortfalls generated by the excess of compensation expense for financial accounting purposes over the corresponding corporate income tax deduction are charged to the APIC Pool rather than income tax expense. Once the APIC Pool is fully depleted, the tax effect of any excess of financial accounting expense over the corresponding corporate income tax deduction is recorded as income tax expense. The first quarter 2015 includes $5.1 million income tax expense related to increases in our valuation allowances for state net operating loss carryforwards and an income tax benefit of $2.0 million adjusting our valuation allowance for our deferred tax asset related to future deferred compensation plan distributions of our senior executives.