pre_text: 4. Income Taxes Provision for Income Taxes Income tax expense (benefit) is summarized below (in thousands):
table: Fiscal Year Ended August 31,
table: 2019 2018 2017
table: Current:
table: Domestic–federal $(23,675) $69,080 $2,436
table: Domestic–state 1,383 134 12
table: Foreign 175,993 178,790 188,872
table: Total current 153,701 248,004 191,320
table: Deferred:
table: Domestic–federal (8,000) (24,342) 253
table: Domestic–state (2,202) 93 30
table: Foreign 17,731 62,105 (62,537)
table: Total deferred 7,529 37,856 (62,254)
table: Total income tax expense $161,230 $285,860 $129,066
question: Analyse this data from a financial earnings document. What was the change in the company's total current income tax expense (benefit) between 2017 and 2018?