Income Taxes

The provision for income taxes is comprised of the following:



	Three Months Ended June 30,				Six Months Ended June 30,
	2017		2016		2017		2016
Current expense	$	18,300	$	32,483	$	31,260	$	43,124
Deferred expense	7,868		7,227		12,026		20,624
Total income tax provision	$	26,168	$	39,710	$	43,286	$	63,748

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



	Six Months Ended June 30,
	2017		2016
Statutory federal income tax rate	35.0	%	35.0	%
Income tax effect of:
Investment income not subject to federal tax	(3.4	)%	(2.7	)%
Tax credits	(0.6	)%	(8.8	)%
State income taxes, net of federal benefit	2.5	%	2.8	%
Other, net	0.3	%	0.7	%
Effective income tax rate	33.8	%	27.0	%

During the six months ended June 30, 2017, and 2016, the Company recorded an increase in unrecognized tax benefits in the amount of $3,714 and $2,477 respectively. The Company anticipates additional increases to its unrecognized tax benefits of $7,000 to $9,000 in the next twelve months. The Company expects that the majority of the increase 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.