Income Taxes

The Corporation's tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimate of its annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items. The following table summarizes the Corporation's income tax provision (dollars in thousands):



	Three Months Ended						Six Months Ended
	June 30, 2018			July 1, 2017			June 30, 2018			July 1, 2017
Income before income taxes	$	24,431		$	20,627		$	25,893		$	27,586
Income taxes	$	5,835		$	6,771		$	4,836		$	8,949
Effective tax rate	23.9		%	32.8		%	18.6		%	32.4		%

The Corporation's effective tax rate was lower in the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 compared to the same periods last year primarily due to the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 (the "Act"). An additional driver of the change in the effective tax rate for the first six months was the release of a valuation allowance for certain foreign jurisdictions.

On December 22, 2017, the Act was signed into law, making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code. Changes include, but are not limited to, a corporate tax rate decrease from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017, the transition of U.S. international taxation from a worldwide tax system to a territorial system, and a one-time transition tax on the mandatory deemed repatriation of cumulative foreign earnings as of December 31, 2017. In January 2018, the FASB released guidance on the accounting for tax relating to the global intangible low-taxed income ("GILTI") provisions of the Act. The GILTI provisions impose a tax on foreign income in excess of a deemed return on tangible assets of foreign corporations. Effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2018, the Corporation elected to treat any potential GILTI inclusions as a period cost, as no material impact is projected from GILTI inclusions and any deferred taxes related to any inclusion are not material. Also under the Act, a corporation's foreign earnings accumulated under legacy tax laws are deemed repatriated. The Corporation will continue to evaluate its ability to assert indefinite reinvestment to determine recognition of a deferred tax liability for other items such as Section 986(c) currency gain/loss, foreign withholding, and state taxes. Additionally, under the Act and for purposes of Internal Revenue Code Section 162(m) Excessive Executive Compensation Limit, the Corporation elected to allocate deductible compensation to cash compensation first, then to share-based compensation.