The Company owns certain radio stations which, under current FCC rules, are not permitted to be owned or transferred to another Clear Channel entity. These radio stations were placed in a trust in order to comply with FCC rules at the time of the closing of the merger that resulted in the Company's acquisition of Clear Channel. The Company is the beneficial owner of the trust, but the radio stations are managed by an independent trustee. The Company will have to divest all of these radio stations unless any stations may be owned by the Company under then-current FCC rules, in which case the trust will be terminated with respect to such stations. The trust agreement stipulates that the Company must fund any operating shortfalls of the trust activities, and any excess cash flow generated by the trust is distributed to the Company. The Company is also the beneficiary of proceeds from the sale of stations held in the trust. The Company consolidates the trust in accordance with ASC 810-10, which requires an enterprise involved with variable interest entities to perform an analysis to determine whether the enterprise's variable interest or interests give it a controlling financial interest in the variable interest entity, as the trust was determined to be a variable interest entity and the Company is its primary beneficiary.

The Company's income tax benefit for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, consisted of the following components:

(In thousands)		Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
		September 30,				September 30,
		2012		2011		2012		2011
Current tax benefit (expense)	$	(21,148)	$	(11,326)	$	21,331	$	(376)
Deferred tax benefit		34,380		31,991		157,962		122,886
Income tax benefit	$	13,232	$	20,665	$	179,293	$	122,510

The effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 was 25.5% and 45.5%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2012 was primarily impacted by additional tax expense recorded related to uncertain tax positions, the effects of which were partially offset by reduced non-U.S. tax rates of financial reporting gains resulting from the disposition of certain foreign subsidiaries. The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2012 was primarily impacted by the completion of income tax examinations in various jurisdictions during the period which resulted in a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $61.0 million.

The effective tax rate for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2011 was 23.5% and 34.1%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by increases in tax expense attributable to the write-off of deferred tax assets in excess of the tax benefits realized upon the vesting of certain equity awards, an increase in unrecognized tax benefits and the Company's inability to record the benefit of losses in certain foreign jurisdictions. The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was primarily impacted by the Company's settlement of U.S. federal and state tax examinations during the period. Pursuant to the settlements, the Company recorded a reduction to income tax expense of approximately $10.6 million to reflect the net tax benefits of the settlements. In addition, the effective rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 was impacted by the Company's ability to benefit from certain tax loss carryforwards in foreign jurisdictions due to increased taxable income during 2011, where the losses previously did not provide a benefit.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2012 and 2011, cash paid for interest and income taxes, net of income tax refunds of $4.1 million and $7.3 million, respectively, was as follows:

(In thousands)		Nine Months Ended September 30,
		2012		2011
Interest	$	1,110,139	$	1,028,973
Income taxes		44,989		77,548