-
- To save this word, you'll need to log in.
bracket creep
noun
: movement into a higher tax bracket as a result of income rises intended to offset the effects of inflation
Examples of bracket creep in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Rising wages and 'bracket creep' Workers' incomes have generally been rising.
—Scott Horsley, NPR, 11 Apr. 2024
This diagnostic bracket creep struck me as mistaken conceptually — think of those bold fish — but sometimes justified clinically.
—Peter D. Kramer, STAT, 16 Nov. 2023
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.
—Ann Carrns, New York Times, 23 Sep. 2022
Surreptitiously and automatically through inflation and bracket creep.
—Mike Solon, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2022
Change to income tax brackets to avoid bracket creep.
—Steven Arons, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2022
That means, in a world with 8.6% inflation, South Carolina’s indexing is not keeping up with inflation, resulting in some bracket creep.
—Patrick Gleason, Forbes, 16 June 2022
With 16 tax brackets and 9% inflation over the period, bracket creep increased taxes as a share of gross domestic product by 2.1%, dwarfing the later Clinton and Obama tax increases combined.
—Mike Solon, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2022
Lawmakers in some of these 13 states have taken action this year to protect their constituents against bracket creep.
—Patrick Gleason, Forbes, 16 June 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bracket creep.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1977, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near bracket creep
Cite this Entry
“Bracket creep.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bracket%20creep. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share