At 136k income, every dollar you put into a traditional 401k, you're guaranteed to save 24 cents on your tax return.

People often think "well taxes might rise in the future so I could pay more than 24% in retirement"

There's almost no chance. Here's why.

When you pull out, let's say, 80k to live on during retirement

That's currently the 22% marginal bracket. But heck, maybe for whatever reason, congress decided low and middle class Americans (income 41k-89k) need to pay a lot more taxes. They up it to 30%. Dang, my traditional 401k was a mistake! 30% is higher than 24%.

But guess what. You don't pay 30% on all 80k, because that's not how taxes work. Ignoring social security here for simplicity:

First you get a standard deduction and pay 0% on the first 13k.

Then you pay 10% on the next 10k.

Then you pay 12% on the net 30k.

Then you start to pay the 30% on the remainder.

The effective tax rate you paid on that 80k withdrawal is around 15 cents per dollar. If you had used a Roth 401k you would have paid 24 cents on every dollar.

Congress would have to pass very significant tax increases on the lowest income Americans for the traditional 401k to become a bad option -- or, you end up with a bunch of ordinary income during retirement which skyrockets your effective rate.