bracket creep

noun

: movement into a higher tax bracket as a result of income rises intended to offset the effects of inflation

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

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

The best way to deal with bracket creep is to index income tax brackets to inflation, as 37 states already do. —Adam A. Millsap, Forbes, 13 Apr. 2022

The high inflation rate in the West South Central coupled with tax brackets that are not indexed means taxpayers in Oklahoma and Louisiana are especially at risk for bracket creep. —Adam A. Millsap, Forbes, 13 Apr. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1977, in the meaning defined above