I've seen some suggestions that this was done specifically to punish blue states where most of these kinds of jobs reside. I'm not sure they were actually thinking that far ahead, but I guess I wouldn't put it past them.
Or reward states that have lower taxes.
Since those states are receiving funds from the federal government you’re not really rewarding lower taxes. You’re just rewarding poor fiscal management.
The fact that the same legislation capped the SALT deduction lends credence to your argument.
I knew bracket creep was going to a land mine and did figure they included others to make the numbers work out the way they did. Now the government makes more money with higher inflation which I think is a risky alignment of incentives.