Income Taxes (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

The provision for income taxes consists of the following for the years ended December 31:



(in thousands)
	2015			2014			2013
Current income tax expense	$	106,155		$	87,064		$	89,005
Deferred income tax benefit	(14,584		)	(3,305		)	(5,002		)
Income tax expense	$	91,571		$	83,759		$	84,003

Schedule of reconciliation of the provision for income taxes, with amounts determined by applying the statutory federal income tax rates to pre-tax income

A reconciliation of the provision for income taxes, with amounts determined by applying the statutory federal income tax rate to pre-tax income, is as follows for the years ended December 31:



(in thousands)
	2015			2014			2013
Income tax at statutory rate	$	93,187		$	87,943		$	86,315
Tax-exempt interest	(2,285		)	(2,589		)	(2,345		)
Other, net	669			(1,595		)	33
Income tax expense	$	91,571		$	83,759		$	84,003

Schedule of temporary differences and carry-forwards, which give rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities

Temporary differences and carry-forwards, which give rise to deferred tax assets and liabilities, are as follows for the years ended December 31:



(in thousands)
	2015		2014
Deferred tax assets:
Other employee benefits	$	19,945	$	17,846
Pension and other postretirement benefits	48,897		55,443
Allowance for management fee returned on cancelled policies	4,375		3,850
Other	546		44
Total deferred tax assets	73,763		77,183
Deferred tax liabilities:
Depreciation	17,843		17,290
Prepaid expenses	6,929		8,090
Limited partnerships	5,822		10,526
Unrealized gains on investments	1,360		3,691
Other	1,123		265
Total deferred tax liabilities	33,077		39,862
Net deferred tax asset	$	40,686	$	37,321