depending on your situation the roth will likely be the winner for many reasons and all have little to do with final tax brackets .
first off so much in retirement is income linked . everything from getting ss taxed to what you pay for medicare premiums are linked to your magi .
if you retire earlier then medicare age getting an aca subsidy is income linked .
you have no rmd's to deal with . rmd's can be a disaster when one spouse dies and the other has to file single tax wise .
once rmd's start if you reinvest that money all gains and distributions are forever taxed . roths are never taxed and remain tax free long after rmd's are taxed on gains .
but the biggest factor few look at are your average long term tax bracket .
most of us have careers that ramp up over decades to the higher brackets . folks make the mistake of just looking at their final years and going in retirement we will be in a lower bracket tax wise . but that is wrong . it is your total career average that matters and roths can leave you with as much as 20% more spendable income even if brackets stay the same .
it is only certain careers like doctors , lawyers , bankers , etc where you start out in the highest brackets that would not benefit as much from a roth .
now that i retired i realize i made a big mistake shying away from roths and now it t is not about whether taxes go up or not when you retire . it is all about the things linked to your income when you retire and how painful rmd's can become .
at this point conversions offer little help . . in fact convert to much and you can find your medicare premiums tripled .
se sold an asset 2 years before medicare and retiring . since medicare goes back 2 years to determine income we got a 300% increase