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Kenney clearly articulates why bracket creep is a tax hike in his column:

“First, inflation generally causes taxable income to increase at a faster pace than real income. For example, Canadians earning less than about $6,500 are exempt from paying federal taxes because of the existence of the Basic Personal Credit, a tax-free threshold that must be crossed before any federal taxes are owed.”

Kenney even provides examples.

“Consider the example of a taxpayer named Joe who earns $6,500 this year from his part-time job. In 1996, Joe would pay no taxes since he has not crossed the tax-free threshold yet. But because Joe’s salary increases with inflation, the result would be that Joe moves into a taxpaying bracket. In effect, Joe’s nominal income increases, but his real income stays the same. The result is that Joe’s purchasing power is reduced, and he must hand over $50 to the taxman.”

Over time, inflation erodes the tax-free portion of everyone’s wages, which can really bite low-income earners.

“The second effect of bracket creep is the way it pushes middle-income earners into higher and higher tax brackets, as their real incomes remain the same,” Kenney wrote.

Kenney knows that Albertans will be feeling the pain if he allows bracket creep to siphon money out of our wallets.

“There is a social cost to de-indexation which cannot be ignored … For low and middle income families, bracket creep can suck enough money from the family budget to cause serious financial hardship.”