Income Taxes

Income tax expense was comprised of the following:



	FISCAL YEARS ENDED APRIL 30
(in thousands)	2015			2014		2013

CURRENT EXPENSE
Federal	$	12,663		$	4,825	$	1,031
State	1,890			406		162
Total current expense	14,553			5,231		1,193

DEFERRED EXPENSE
Federal	3,024			6,076		4,859
State	1,311			1,902		930
Total deferred expense	4,335			7,978		5,789
Total expense	18,888			13,209		6,982
Other comprehensive income (loss)	(9,510		)	3,944		(2,905		)
Total comprehensive income tax expense	$	9,378		$	17,153	$	4,077

The Company's effective income tax rate varied from the federal statutory rate as follows:



	FISCAL YEARS ENDED APRIL 30
	2015		2014		2013
Federal statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
Effect of:
Research and experimentation tax credit	(2.3	)%	—	%	—	%
Meals and entertainment	0.5		0.8		1.5
Domestic production deduction	(2.4	)	(1.8	)	(0.3	)
Other	0.1		0.7		1.4
Total	(4.1	)%	(0.3	)%	2.6	%

Effective federal income tax rate	30.9	%	34.7	%	37.6	%
State income taxes, net of federal tax effect	3.8		4.5		4.1
Effective income tax rate	34.7	%	39.2	%	41.7	%

Included in the fiscal year 2015 effective income tax rate are research and experimentation tax credits for fiscal years 2011 through 2014.

Income taxes paid were $13.3 million, $4.3 million and $1.2 million for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively.

The significant components of deferred tax assets and liabilities were as follows:



	APRIL 30
(in thousands)	2015		2014
Deferred tax assets:
Pension benefits	$	23,074	$	15,381
Accounts receivable	5,523		4,603
Product liability	1,031		745
Employee benefits	7,429		8,523
Net operating loss carryforward	—		469
Other	266		199
Total	37,323		29,920

Deferred tax liabilities:
Inventory	451		496
Depreciation	3,485		2,374
	3,936		2,870

Net deferred tax asset	$	33,387	$	27,050

Management believes it is more likely than not that the Company will realize its gross deferred tax assets due to expected future taxable income and the reversal of taxable temporary differences.