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

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

Harvard's Feldstein pointed out that the Administration's proposed cuts would do little more than offset "bracket creep," which has pushed people into higher tax categories even though their real incomes after inflation have not risen.

From Time Magazine Archive