Income Taxes

Income tax expense was as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2017			2016
Current income tax expense	$	15,702		$	13,787
Deferred income tax expense (benefit)	(4,301		)	(4,395		)
Income tax expense, as reported	$	11,401		$	9,392

Effective tax rate	11.8		%	12.0		%

Net deferred tax assets totaled $57.9 million at March 31, 2017 and $63.7 million at December 31, 2016. No valuation allowance for deferred tax assets was recorded at March 31, 2017 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 and the income tax effects associated with stock-based compensation. 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.