Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Reconciliation Between Statutory Federal Income Tax Rate and Effective Income Tax

Our income tax benefit was $251.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $280.8 million in 2016 and $338.7 million in 2015. Reconciliation between the statutory federal income tax rate and our effective income tax rate is as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2017		2016			2015
Federal statutory tax rate	35.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
Federal rate change	(406.7	)		—			—
State	(0.7	)		3.0			4.3
State rate and law change	(1.3	)		1.0			(0.2	)
Non-deductible executive compensation	0.7			(0.2	)		(0.1	)
Non-deductible MRD transaction costs	—			(0.6	)		—
Valuation allowances	36.8			(2.5	)		(6.8	)
Equity compensation	30.2			(0.7	)		—
Other	0.3			—			—
Consolidated effective tax rate	(305.7	%)		35.0	%		32.2	%

Income Tax (Benefit) Expense Attributable to Income Before Income Taxes

Income tax (benefit) expense attributable to income before income taxes consists of the following (in thousands):

		2017								2016										2015
		Current	Deferred			Total			Current		Deferred			Total				Current					Deferred			Total
U.S. federal	$	—	$	(302,507	)	$	(302,507	)	$	—	$	(266,105	)		$	(266,105	)		$		—	$		(328,257	)		$	(328,257	)
U.S. state and local		17		51,464			51,481			98		(14,743	)			(14,645	)				29			(10,449	)			(10,420	)
Total	$	17	$	(251,043	)	$	(251,026	)	$	98	$	(280,848	)		$	(280,750	)		$		29	$		(338,706	)		$	(338,677	)

Significant Components of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Significant components of deferred tax assets and liabilities are as follows:

	December 31,
	2017			2016
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforward	$	413,672		$	478,203
Deferred compensation		24,704			50,808
Equity compensation		5,269			29,528
AMT credits and other credits		7,264			13,644
Asset retirement obligation		69,398			99,000
Cumulative mark-to-market loss		—			73,404
Other		18,806			39,922
Valuation allowances:
Federal		(31,308	)		(48,750	)
State, net of federal benefit		(93,826	)		(58,424	)
Total deferred tax assets		413,979			677,335
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation, depletion and investments		(1,105,494	)		(1,619,922	)
Cumulative mark-to-market gain		(1,841	)		—
Other		—			(756	)
Total deferred tax liabilities		(1,107,335	)		(1,620,678	)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(693,356	)	$	(943,343	)

Changes in Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowances

The changes in our deferred tax asset valuation allowances are as follows (in thousands):

		2017			2016			2015
Balance at the beginning of the year	$	(107,174	)	$	(87,623	)	$	(16,599	)
Charged to provision for income taxes:
State net operating loss carryforwards		(11,612	)		(17,374	)		(30,457	)
Federal net operating carryforwards		15,385			(1,100	)		(42,500	)
Other state valuation allowances		(23,790	)		500			(1,050	)
Other federal valuation allowances		(247	)		(477	)		(511	)
Rabbi trust valuation allowance		2,304			(1,066	)		3,494
Other		—			(34	)		—
Balance at the end of the year	$	(125,134	)	$	(107,174	)	$	(87,623	)