Income taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of Provision (Benefit) for Income Taxes on Income Consists

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

2021	Current		Deferred		Total
Federal	$	114,255	$	15,400	$	129,655
State and other	11,310		(5,484)		5,826
Total	$	125,565	$	9,916	$	135,481

2020	Current		Deferred		Total
Federal	$	123,882	$	4,532	$	128,414
State and other	21,878		4,001		25,879
Total	$	145,760	$	8,533	$	154,293

2019	Current		Deferred		Total
Federal	$	59,791	$	21,345	$	81,136
State and other	7,567		719		8,286
Total	$	67,358	$	22,064	$	89,422

Schedule of 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:

	2021	2020	2019
U.S. statutory tax rate	21.0%	21.0%	21.0%
Increase (decrease) in taxes resulting from:
State taxes (net of federal income tax benefit)	2.6	3.3	3.1
Uncertain tax positions, settlements and lapse of statutes of limitations	0.3	(0.1)	(1.6)
Other valuation allowances, tax rate changes, & deferred adjustments	(1.7)	(0.1)	(1.7)
Valuation allowance on equity method investment	—	0.4	1.7
Non-deductible transactions costs	0.1	—	0.3
Net excess benefits or expense on share-based payments	(0.2)	(0.1)	0.4
Other, net	—	(0.2)	0.6
Effective tax rate	22.1%	24.2%	23.8%

Schedule of Deferred Tax Liabilities and Assets

Deferred tax liabilities and assets were composed of the following as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 (in thousands):

	Dec. 31,
	2021		2020
Deferred tax liabilities
Accelerated depreciation	$	67,697	$	67,479
Accelerated amortization of deductible intangibles	534,438		536,740
Right-of-use assets for operating leases	21,648		24,220
Other	3,792		3,322
Total deferred tax liabilities	627,575		631,761
Deferred tax assets
Accrued compensation costs	24,147		18,559
Pension and post-retirement medical and life	17,400		25,523
Loss carryforwards	31,841		38,348
Operating lease liabilities	22,582		25,319
Other	25,160		37,239
Total deferred tax assets	121,130		144,988
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	41,929		43,467
Total net deferred tax (liabilities)	$	(548,374)	$	(530,240)

The following table summarizes the activity related to deferred tax asset valuation allowances (in thousands):

	2021		2020		2019
Beginning at beginning of period	$	43,467	$	45,661	$	125,894
Additions to valuation allowance	6,108		3,719		9,545
Reductions to valuation allowance	(7,646)		(5,913)		(89,778)
Balance at the end of the period	$	41,929	$	43,467	$	45,661

Schedule 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):

	2021		2020		2019
Change in unrecognized tax benefits
Balance at beginning of year	$	7,435	$	8,050	$	12,843
Additions for tax positions of prior years	1,363		630		—
Reductions for tax positions of prior years	—		—		(959)
Settlements	—		—		(288)
Reductions due to lapse of statutes of limitations	(602)		(1,245)		(3,546)
Balance as of end of year	$	8,196	$	7,435	$	8,050