Table:
| Years ended August 31, | 2019 | 2018 (1) | Change |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| (in thousands of dollars, except percentages) | $ | $ | % |
| Profit before income taxes | 440,563 | 367,380 | 19.9 |
| Combined Canadian income tax rate | 26.50% | 26.50% | — |
| Income taxes at combined Canadian income tax rate | 116,749 | 97,356 | 19.9 |
| Difference in operations' statutory income tax rates | 1,466 | (3) | — |
| Impact on deferred taxes as a result of changes in substantively enacted tax rates | 15 | (94,175) | — |
| Impact on income taxes arising from non-deductible expenses and non-taxable profit | (565) | 1,670 | — |
| Tax impacts related to foreign operations | (28,633) | (22,099) | 29.6 |
| Other | (5,377) | 53 | — |
|  | 83,655 | (17,198) | — |
Paragraphs:
3.5 INCOME TAXES
(1) Fiscal 2018 was restated to comply with IFRS 15 and to reflect a change in accounting policy as well as to reclassify results from Cogeco Peer 1 as discontinued operations. For further details, please consult the "Accounting policies" and "Discontinued operations" sections.
Fiscal 2019 income taxes expense amounted to $83.7 million compared to a recovery of $17.2 million for the prior year mainly attributable to: • the effect of the federal rate reduction in the second quarter of fiscal 2018 in the United States; • the increase in profit before income taxes which is mostly related to the impact of the MetroCast acquisition completed in the second quarter of fiscal 2018, and • the appreciation of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar compared to the prior year.
On March 19, 2019, the Department of Finance Canada confirmed the acceleration of tax depreciation on most capital investments for property, plant and equipment acquired after November 20, 2018, which phases out during the period from 2023 to 2028. The federal accelerated tax depreciation had a favorable impact on the current income tax expense of the Corporation in fiscal 2019. On March 21, 2019, the Québec Department of Finance confirmed that it would harmonize with the Federal legislation.
On December 22, 2017, the U.S. federal government enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the "Act"). The tax reform reduced the general federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% starting after 2017 which reduced net deferred tax liabilities by approximately $94 million (US$74 million) in the second quarter of fiscal 2018. In addition, the Act calls for other changes such as interest deductibility limitations, full deduction of acquisitions of tangible assets, net operating losses limitations as well as base erosion anti-avoidance, which together with tax rate reductions, had an overall favorable impact on the income tax expense.
Question:
What were the income tax expense in 2019?
Answer: $83.7