Note 8 - Income Taxes

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]

8.     Income Taxes

For the three-month and six-month periods ended June 30, 2013 and 2012, our income tax expense and effective income tax rates were as follows (dollars in thousands):

	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30,						June 30,
	2013			2012			2013			2012
Income tax expense	$	3,573		$	6,926		$	5,224		$	9,215
Effective income tax rate		41.0	%		38.6	%		46.5	%		39.1	%

We estimate our differences between taxable income and recorded income on an annual basis. Our tax provision for each interim reporting period is based upon these full year projections which are revised each interim reporting period. These projections incorporate estimates of permanent differences between U.S. GAAP income and taxable income, state income taxes, adjustments to our liability for unrecognized tax benefits and other items as necessary to adjust our statutory Federal income tax rate to our effective income tax rate.

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2013, these estimates increased or decreased our statutory Federal income tax rate of 35.0% to our effective income tax rate of 46.5% as follows: an adjustment resulting from the expiration of certain unexercised stock options added 5.5%, state income taxes added 4.7% and permanent differences between our U.S. GAAP income and taxable income added 1.7%, while adjustments to our reserve for uncertain tax positions resulted in a reduction of 0.4%.

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2012, these estimates increased or decreased our statutory Federal income tax rate of 35.0% to our effective income tax rate of 39.1% as follows: state income taxes added 4.9% and permanent differences between our U.S. GAAP income and taxable income added 0.6%, while adjustments to our reserve for uncertain tax positions resulted in a reduction of 1.4%.