Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes is comprised of the following:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
Current (benefit) expense	$	(1,399	)	$	29,568	$	41,725	$	67,705
Deferred expense	16,694			1,140		37,318		11,221
Total income tax provision	$	15,295		$	30,708	$	79,043	$	78,926

The following table presents a reconciliation between the statutory federal income tax rate and the Company’s effective income tax rate:



	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016		2015
Statutory federal income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%
Income tax effect of:
Investment income not subject to federal tax	(2.7	)%	(2.8	)%
Tax credits	(7.3	)%	(0.3	)%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	2.5	%	1.9	%
Other, net	(0.4	)%	(0.7	)%
Effective income tax rate	27.1	%	33.1	%

The Company recorded a decrease of $5,824 and an increase of $1,008 in unrecognized tax benefits during the nine months ended September 30, 2016, and 2015, respectively. The Company does not anticipate material changes to its unrecognized tax benefits in the next twelve months.

The Company files income tax returns in the U.S. federal jurisdiction and various states. With few exceptions, the Company is no longer subject to U.S. federal income tax examinations by tax authorities for years 2012 and prior. Tax years 2013 through 2015 are open to federal examination by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The Company does not expect significant increases or decreases to unrecognized tax benefits relating to federal, state, or local audits.