Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Reconciliation Between Statutory Federal Income Tax Rate and Effective Income Tax

Our income tax benefit was $30.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 compared to $251.0 million in 2017 and $280.8 million in 2016. Reconciliation between the statutory federal income tax rate and our effective income tax rate is as follows:


	Year Ended December 31,
	2018		2017			2016
Federal statutory tax rate	21.0	%		35.0	%		35.0	%
Federal rate change	—			(406.7	)		—
State	(0.3	)		(0.7	)		3.0
State rate and law change	0.9			(1.3	)		1.0
Non-deductible executive compensation	—			0.7			(0.2	)
Non-deductible MRD transaction costs	—			—			(0.6	)
Valuation allowances	(0.4	)		36.8			(2.5	)
Equity compensation	(0.1	)		30.2			(0.7	)
Goodwill impairment	(19.4	)		—			—
Other	—			0.3			—
Consolidated effective tax rate	1.7	%		(305.7	%)		35.0	%

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

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

		2018								2017										2016
		Current	Deferred			Total			Current		Deferred			Total				Current					Deferred			Total
U.S. federal	$	—	$	(25,322	)	$	(25,322	)	$	—	$	(302,507	)		$	(302,507	)		$		—	$		(266,105	)		$	(266,105	)
U.S. state and local		—		(5,167	)		(5,167	)		17		51,464				51,481					98			(14,743	)			(14,645	)
Total	$	—	$	(30,489	)	$	(30,489	)	$	17	$	(251,043	)		$	(251,026	)		$		98	$		(280,848	)		$	(280,750	)

Significant Components of Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

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

	December 31,
	2018			2017
	(in thousands)
Deferred tax assets:
Net operating loss carryforward	$	542,847		$	413,672
Deferred compensation		19,844			24,704
Equity compensation		8,152			5,269
AMT credits and other credits		3,296			7,264
Asset retirement obligation		78,126			69,398
Other		30,492			18,806
Valuation allowances:
Federal		(18,975	)		(31,308	)
State, net of federal benefit		(101,372	)		(93,826	)
Total deferred tax assets		562,410			413,979
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation, depletion and investments		(1,207,784	)		(1,105,494	)
Cumulative mark-to-market gain		(21,294	)		(1,841	)
Other		—			—
Total deferred tax liabilities		(1,229,078	)		(1,107,335	)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(666,668	)	$	(693,356	)

Changes in Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowances

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

		2018			2017			2016
Balance at the beginning of the year	$	(125,134	)	$	(107,174	)	$	(87,623	)
Charged to provision for income taxes:
State net operating loss carryforwards		(23,926	)		(11,612	)		(17,374	)
Federal net operating carryforwards		11,716			15,385			(1,100	)
Other state valuation allowances		16,380			(23,790	)		500
Other federal valuation allowances		494			(247	)		(477	)
Other		123			2,304			(1,100	)
Balance at the end of the year	$	(120,347	)	$	(125,134	)	$	(107,174	)