Income taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2018

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes on Income from Continuing Operations

The provision (benefit) for income taxes from continuing operations consists of the following (in thousands):

2018	Current		Deferred		Total
Federal	$	77,795	$	15,765	$	93,560
State and other	9,527		4,280		13,807
Total	$	87,322	$	20,045	$	107,367

2017	Current		Deferred			Total
Federal	$	81,355	$	(214,539	)	$	(133,184	)
State and other	7,981		(12,043		)	(4,062		)
Total	$	89,336	$	(226,582	)	$	(137,246	)

2016	Current		Deferred			Total
Federal	$	155,558	$	(4,323	)	$	151,235
State and other	5,792		(16,856		)	(11,064		)
Total	$	161,350	$	(21,179	)	$	140,171

Reconciliation of Effective Tax Rate

The provision for income taxes varies from the U.S. federal statutory tax rate as a result of the following differences:

	2018	2017	2016
U.S. statutory tax rate	21.0%	35.0%	35.0%
Increase (decrease) in taxes resulting from:
State taxes (net of federal income tax benefit)	2.9	2.4	2.4
Domestic manufacturing deduction	—	(3.0)	(3.3)
Uncertain tax positions, settlements and lapse of statutes of limitations	(0.3)	(0.9)	(0.5)
Net deferred tax write offs and deferred tax rate adjustments	(1.0)	(6.3)	(2.4)
Enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act	(1.1)	(70.9)	—
Non-deductible transactions costs	—	1.2	0.8
Net excess benefits on share-based payments	0.1	(0.4)	(1.4)
Other, net	(0.5)	(1.3)	0.6
Effective tax rate	21.1%	(44.2%)	31.2%

Deferred Tax Liabilities and Assets

Deferred tax liabilities and assets were composed of the following at the end of December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 (in thousands):

	Dec. 31,
	2018			2017
Liabilities
Accelerated depreciation	$	43,396		$	40,568
Accelerated amortization of deductible intangibles	427,760			420,301
Other	2,655			5,255
Total deferred tax liabilities	473,811			466,124
Assets
Accrued compensation costs	13,440			15,133
Pension and other post-retirement benefits	34,679			39,769
Loss carryforwards	120,695			132,214
Other	34,044			33,116
Total deferred tax assets	202,858			220,232
Valuation allowance	125,894			136,418
Total net deferred tax (liabilities)	$	(396,847	)	$	(382,310	)

Summary of Activity Related to Unrecognized Tax Benefits, Excluding Federal Tax Benefit of State Tax Deductions

The following table summarizes the activity related to unrecognized tax benefits, excluding the federal tax benefit of state tax deductions (in thousands):

	2018			2017			2016
Change in unrecognized tax benefits
Balance at beginning of year	$	15,043		$	17,300		$	19,491
Additions based on tax positions related to the current year	40			156			213
Additions for tax positions of prior years	2,631			11			162
Reductions for tax positions of prior years	—			(636		)	(1,214		)
Settlements	(182		)	(852		)	—
Reductions due to lapse of statutes of limitations	(4,689		)	(936		)	(1,352		)
Balance at end of year	$	12,843		$	15,043		$	17,300