Income Taxes

Income tax expense was as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30,						Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015			2016			2015
Current income tax expense	$	12,848		$	16,960		$	40,251		$	49,048
Deferred income tax expense (benefit)	(1,996		)	(4,830		)	(11,629		)	(12,234		)
Income tax expense, as reported	$	10,852		$	12,130		$	28,622		$	36,814

Effective tax rate	11.9		%	13.8		%	11.5		%	14.3		%

Net deferred tax liabilities totaled $65.6 million at September 30, 2016 and $22.5 million at December 31, 2015. No valuation allowance for deferred tax assets was recorded at September 30, 2016 as management believes it is more likely than not that all of the deferred tax assets will be realized because they were supported by recoverable taxes paid in prior years. The effective income tax rates differed from the U.S. statutory rate of 35% during the comparable periods primarily due to the effect of tax-exempt income from loans, securities and life insurance policies. There were no unrecognized tax benefits during any of the reported periods. Interest and/or penalties related to income taxes are reported as a component of income tax expense. Such amounts were not significant during the reported periods.

We file income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction. We are no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations by tax authorities for years before 2013.

During the third quarter of 2016, we adopted a new accounting standard that impacted how the income tax effects associated with stock-based compensation are recognized. See Note 1 - Significant Accounting Policies for additional information.