Other places do have more horrid, retroactive taxation.

But that said, tax rates are typically based upon cutoffs. So the more you make, the more tax you pay.

So this means that if you get a raise to meet inflation, you could see your raise more heavily taxed, if it is above the next tax bracket.

Eventually, with enough inflation, and no changes to tax regs, you could see the very poor, taxed like the well to do, a few years before.

There are also some tax benefits, which have income cutoffs, and also programs which have income cutoffs.

With inflation at historic lows for 25 years, there is little institutional knowledge about how fast >10% inflation can erase buying power, and at the same time big raises mean nothing..