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

See Examples For:

bracket creep

If inflation spikes later in the year, as it did in 2021, bracket creep is more likely.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2022

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

Meanwhile, taxpayers are being hurt by so-called bracket creep, which keeps pushing them into higher tax categories as their inflation-bloated paychecks increase.

From Time Magazine Archive