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Note 10 - Income Taxes
 3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2013
Income Tax Disclosure [Text Block]
10.         Income Taxes:

For the three months ended March 31, 2013, the Company recorded an income tax provision of $2.7 million, or 34.7%, compared to $4.0 million, or 38.9%, for the three months ended March 31, 2012.  The lower effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2013 is a result of the tax law changes that went into effect January 1, 2013 extending certain tax credits.  This discrete item resulted in a decrease to our effective tax rate of 2.3%.

Our tax provision for interim periods is determined using an estimate of our annual effective tax rate, adjusted for discrete items that are taken into account in the relevant period.  Each quarter we update our estimate of the annual effective tax rate, and if our estimated tax rate changes, we make a cumulative adjustment.

Our quarterly tax provision and our quarterly estimate of our annual effective tax rate is subject to significant volatility due to several factors, including variability in accurately predicting our pre-tax and taxable income and loss and the mix of jurisdictions to which they relate, changes in law and relative changes of expenses or losses for which tax benefits are not recognized.  Additionally, our effective tax rate can be more or less volatile based on the amount of pre-tax income.  For example, the impact of discrete items and non-deductible expenses on our effective tax rate is greater when our pre-tax income is lower.