Income Tax Expense

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2018

As a partnership, we are generally not subject to federal income tax and most state income taxes. However, the Partnership conducts certain activities through corporate subsidiaries which are subject to federal and state income taxes.

Our effective tax rate differs from the statutory rate primarily due to Partnership earnings that are not subject to U.S. federal and most state income taxes at the Partnership level. A reconciliation of income tax expense from continuing operations at the U.S. federal statutory rate to net income tax expense (benefit) is as follows:



	For the Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018			2017
	(in million)
Tax at statutory federal rate (1)	$	(10	)	$	(1	)
Partnership earnings not subject to tax	9			(13		)
Statutory tax rate changes	29			—
Other	3			—
Net income tax expense (benefit)	$	31		$	(14	)

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(1)	In December 2017, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” was signed into law. Among other provisions, the highest corporate federal income tax rate was reduced from 35% to 21% for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017.