Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes is comprised of the following:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2017		2016
Current expense	$	12,959	$	10,640
Deferred expense	4,158		13,398
Total income tax provision	$	17,117	$	24,038

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



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2017		2016
Statutory federal income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%
Income tax effect of:
Investment income not subject to federal tax	(3.3	)%	(2.3	)%
Tax credits	(0.8	)%	(16.3	)%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	1.8	%	2.3	%
Other, net	0.3	%	0.9	%
Effective income tax rate	33.0	%	19.6	%

During the three months ended March 31, 2017, and 2016, the Company recorded an increase in unrecognized tax benefits in the amount of $1,994 and $1,843 respectively. The Company anticipates additional decreases to its unrecognized tax benefits of $7,000 to $9,000 in the next twelve months. The Company expects that the majority of the decrease in its unrecognized tax benefits will not impact the effective tax rate.

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.