Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

The components of income taxes were as follows:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016		2015
Income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations	$	(627,615	)	$	232,645	$	249,894

Shareholders’ equity:
Other comprehensive income (loss)	318,475			186,206		(411,646		)
Tax basis compensation expense (from the exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted stock awards) in excess of amounts recognized for financial reporting purposes	—			—		(17,577		)
	$	(309,140	)	$	418,851	$	(179,329	)

Income Tax Expense from Continuing Operations

Income tax (benefit) expense from continuing operations consists of:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			2016		2015
Current income tax (benefit) expense	$	138,262		$	132,806	$	174,284
Deferred income tax (benefit) expense	(765,877		)	99,839		75,610
	$	(627,615	)	$	232,645	$	249,894

Summary of Effective Income Tax Rate

The effective income tax rate differed from the expected 35% rate as shown below:



	Year Ended December 31,
	2017			%		2016			%		2015			%
Expected income taxes	$	290,727		35.0		$	270,282		35.0		$	268,165		35.0
Increase (reduction) in income taxes resulting from:
Tax reform adjustment	(877,400		)	(105.6	)	—			—		—			—
Low income housing investments	(18,515		)	(2.2	)	(18,202		)	(2.4	)	(19,031		)	(2.5	)
Share-based awards	(19,549		)	(2.4	)	(18,653		)	(2.4	)	—			—
Other	(2,878		)	(0.4	)	(782		)	(0.1	)	760			0.1
Income tax expense (benefit) from continuing operations	$	(627,615	)	(75.6	)	$	232,645		30.1		$	249,894		32.6

Significant Portions of Deferred Tax Assets and Deferred Tax Liabilities

The tax effects of temporary differences that gave rise to significant portions of the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities are presented below:



	December 31,
	2017		2016
Deferred tax assets:
Fixed maturity investments	$	8,692	$	15,004
Carryover of tax losses	4,760		3,906
Total gross deferred tax assets	13,452		18,910
Deferred tax liabilities:
Unrealized gains	380,251		315,509
Employee and agent compensation	65,576		92,131
Deferred acquisition costs	618,889		975,873
Future policy benefits, unearned and advance premiums, and policy claims	248,752		391,451
Other liabilities	11,289		3,987
Total gross deferred tax liabilities	1,324,757		1,778,951
Net deferred tax liability	$	1,311,305	$	1,760,041