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State leaders pride themselves on affordability measures, like Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “inflation refund,” but with one hand the Legislature quietly takes back far more — in hidden tax hikes.

“Bracket creep” occurs when inflation-driven pay increases push New Yorkers into higher tax rates or erode fixed-dollar deductions. That’s why the federal government and most states index their tax rates to inflation.

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But not New York. The Legislature allowed indexation of personal income tax brackets to sunset in 2016. That means wage increases meant only to keep pace with rising prices now trigger higher marginal rates and shrink the real value of credits and deductions, imposing an “inflation tax” beyond the effects of inflation, like higher grocery prices.

In our latest Manhattan Institute report, my co-authors and I found that a single filer earning $25,000 in 2016 incurred more than $1,000 in cumulative losses by 2023 because thresholds and........

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