Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

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):

 

	2020		2019		2018
Current expense (benefit)
Federal	$	159,677	$	196,186	$	(44,462)
State and other	24,580		21,252		7,202
	$	184,257	$	217,438	$	(37,260)
Deferred expense (benefit)
Federal	$	116,484	$	74,700	$	271,544
State and other	21,114		30,738		91,233
	$	137,598	$	105,438	$	362,777
Income tax expense (benefit)	$	321,855	$	322,876	$	325,517

Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

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

 

	2020		2019		2018
Income taxes at federal statutory rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	21.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax	3.3		3.7		4.0
Tax accounting method change	—		—		(2.5)
Federal tax credits	(4.8)		(0.2)		(0.4)
Changes in tax laws, including the Tax Act	—		0.2		1.0
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	(0.8)		(0.4)		0.9
Other	(0.1)		(0.2)		0.2
Effective rate	18.6	%	24.1	%	24.2	%

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

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

	At December 31,
	2020		2019
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued insurance	$	135,703	$	142,515
Inventory valuation reserves	78,518		97,585
Other	58,686		64,373
NOL carryforwards:
Federal	—		12,962
State	184,046		200,710
Tax credits	5,344		8,648
	462,297		526,793
Deferred tax liabilities:
Deferred income	(313,170)		(228,186)
Intangibles and other	(46,595)		(44,547)
	(359,765)		(272,733)
Valuation allowance	(69,813)		(83,953)
Net deferred tax asset	$	32,719	$	170,107

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

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

	2020		2019		2018
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning of period	$	40,300	$	30,554	$	48,604
Increases related to positions taken during a prior period	—		2,376		5,389
Decreases related to positions taken during a prior period	(12,981)		(7,918)		(31,850)
Increases related to positions taken during the current period	11,001		16,332		8,411
Decreases related to settlements with taxing authorities	(7,465)		(1,044)		—
Unrecognized tax benefits, end of period	$	30,855	$	40,300	$	30,554