I’m somewhat disappointed that you ran the piece bracket creep, “Bracket creep is a stealthy tax increase,” by Gage Haubricht, The Brandon Sun, July 29.

Bracket creep is a real thing, and it is in fact what he describes: the brackets do not increase with inflation and cost of living. But the author states that the average taxpayer will “lose” money by this, should they receive a cost of living adjustment.

The reality is that no one “loses” anything. Manitoba has a progressive rate, meaning you only pay the higher amount of taxes for the amount of income earned over the bracket amount.

To use his example, if the bottom of the next tax bracket was $60,001 and someone made $60,000 and received a modest $2,000 increase, the higher tax rate would only apply to $2,000 of their income. The rest would continue to be taxed at the lower rate. The rest of the money is theirs to keep.