bracket creep

American  

noun

1. the gradual movement of a wage earner into a higher federal income-tax bracket as a result of wage increases intended to help offset inflation.

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Example Sentences

To avoid bracket creep, the government began adjusting, or indexing, tax brackets for inflation in the early 1980s, after a long period of raging inflation.

From New York Times • Sep. 23, 2022

And if he had run in 1982, as inflation was easing, voters might have been less worried about bracket creep, and Reagan’s anti-tax message perhaps wouldn’t have resonated.

From Washington Post • Dec. 21, 2021

And even if you had bracket creep then you can maybe recognize that you have bracket creep now.

From Salon • Mar. 30, 2019

How fast and far "bracket creep" begins remains anyone's guess.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 6, 2013

Without the new indexation, so-called bracket creep would have raised that family's 1985 taxes to $4,944.

From Time Magazine Archive