Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

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):

 

	2023		2022		2021
Current expense
Federal	$	622,205	$	615,434	$	430,686
State and other	120,424		100,223		73,671
	$	742,629	$	715,657	$	504,357
Deferred expense
Federal	$	72,854	$	55,653	$	57,743
State and other	31,412		50,931		1,425
	$	104,266	$	106,584	$	59,168
Income tax expense	$	846,895	$	822,241	$	563,525

Effective Income Tax Rate Reconciliation

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

 

	2023		2022		2021
Income taxes at federal statutory rate	21.0	%	21.0	%	21.0	%
State and local income taxes, net of federal tax	3.5		3.4		3.3
Federal tax credits	(0.2)		(0.9)		(1.2)
Deferred tax asset valuation allowance	—		0.4		(0.8)
Other	0.3		—		0.2
Effective rate	24.6	%	23.9	%	22.5	%

Deferred Tax Assets and Liabilities

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

 

	At December 31,
	2023		2022
Deferred tax assets:
Accrued insurance	$	140,126	$	138,289
Inventory valuation reserves	58,819		58,339
Capitalized inventory expenses	39,037		32,620
State NOL carryforwards	83,601		105,609
Other	65,432		66,500
	387,015		401,357
Deferred tax liabilities:
Deferred income	(537,855)		(439,863)
Fixed assets and intangibles	(27,890)		(31,921)
Other	(33,909)		(31,802)
	(599,654)		(503,586)
Valuation allowance	(24,756)		(30,869)
Net deferred tax liability	$	(237,395)	$	(133,098)

Summary of Income Tax Contingencies

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

 

	2023		2022		2021
Unrecognized tax benefits, beginning of period	$	23,612	$	22,536	$	30,855
Increases related to positions taken during a prior period	34,687		—		1,428
Decreases related to positions taken during a prior period	—		(303)		(8,896)
Increases related to positions taken during the current period	—		1,450		267
Decreases related to lapse of the applicable statute of limitations	(71)		(71)		(1,118)
Unrecognized tax benefits, end of period	$	58,228	$	23,612	$	22,536