Yes - the caveat here is that if the raise is due to inflation then your real post-tax salary can go down. (i.e. For an absurd example - suppose inflation is 1

Yes - the caveat here is that if the raise is due to inflation then your real post-tax salary can go down. (i.e. For an absurd example - suppose inflation is 100%. Last year you made 50K, this year you make 100K, which is the same in real terms (after inflation)). However, you will pay more of that 100K in tax than you would have last year, so your real income will decrease. This tax drag can also happen for investments. If your investment goes up 100% and inflation is also 100%, you pay tax on the inflated nominal value of your investment even though the real value has not changed. Long term capital gains taxes are one way to reduce the impact of this - but they don't eliminate it altogether. Tax brackets are usually (but not always) inflation-indexed to avoid this effect.