Ever since the Reagan Administrative, tax brackets have been indexed for inflation. This avoids bracket creep when taxpayers move into a higher tax bracket because inflation pushes up their income. The thinking is that inflation increases are not real increases in earnings, so the rate tables should be indexed to avoid tax increases arising solely from inflation. This seems like less of an issue today with relatively tame inflation rates, but remember that inflation went into the teens in some years in the 1970’s making bracket creep a big issue. Read More