Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Income Tax Disclosure [Abstract]

Components of Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

Components of current and deferred income tax expense (benefit) are as follows ($000’s omitted):

	2017			2016			2015
Current expense (benefit)
Federal	$	81,101		$	9,464		$	8,760
State and other	(11,801		)	(13,104		)	1,474
	$	69,300		$	(3,640	)	$	10,234
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal	$	444,695		$	312,288		$	277,895
State and other	(22,388		)	22,499			33,804
	$	422,307		$	334,787		$	311,699
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	491,607		$	331,147		$	321,933

Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

The following table reconciles the statutory federal income tax rate to the effective income tax rate:

	2017		2016		2015
Income taxes at federal statutory rate	35.0	%	35.0	%	35.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax	3.1		3.3		2.8
Changes in tax laws, including the Tax Act	18.3		0.5		0.3
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	(1.1	)	(2.2	)	0.4
Tax contingencies	(1.0	)	(1.3	)	0.1
Other	(1.9	)	0.2		0.9
Effective rate	52.4	%	35.5	%	39.5	%

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

Components of our net deferred tax asset are as follows ($000’s omitted):

	At December 31,
	2017			2016
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued insurance	$	117,133		$	220,823
Inventory valuation reserves	202,791			359,964
Other reserves	78,271			132,597
NOL carryforwards:
Federal	41,282			187,817
State	248,224			224,316
Alternative minimum tax credit carryforwards	54,965			53,917
Energy and other credit carryforwards	41,763			45,673
	784,429			1,225,107
Deferred tax liabilities:
Capitalized items, including real estate basis differences,       deducted for tax, net	(17,895		)	(13,054		)
Deferral of profit on home sales	(34,769		)	(69,391		)
Intangibles	(17,860		)	(28,391		)
	(70,524		)	(110,836		)
Valuation allowance	(68,610		)	(64,863		)
Net deferred tax asset	$	645,295		$	1,049,408

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

A reconciliation of the change in the unrecognized tax benefits is as follows ($000’s omitted):

	2017			2016			2015
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning of period	$	21,502		$	38,992		$	32,911
Increases related to tax positions taken during a prior period	20,555			224			5,763
Decreases related to tax positions taken during a prior period	(9,665		)	(13,218		)	—
Increases related to tax positions taken during the current        period	18,895			114			318
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities	—			(707		)	—
Reductions as a result of a lapse of the applicable statute of        limitations	(2,683		)	(3,903		)	—
Unrecognized tax benefits, end of period	$	48,604		$	21,502		$	38,992