If you are in the 25% Federal tax bracket, it may make sense to contribute to your employer's plan first (403b, 401k, 457, TSP ,etc.) to take advantage of this known tax savings, including state tax rates.
But it is important at some point in your accumulation goals towards retirement to have funds in a ROTH IRA. These ROTH IRA funds are, today, tax-deferred and tax-free at withdrawal.
As Larry Burkett, a financial planner and author, stated over 30 years ago, just remember that those IRA's belong to the government even though they have your name on them. A future Congress can change the rules on us.
Congress could decide to implement a VAT tax or a Federal sales tax or other consumption-type of tax (or even income means-testing), then income distributions from those ROTHS in retirement would get taxed when spent.
Today, the ROTH still escapes the 1040 altogether and therefore there is no income tax. That means that those withdrawals do not impact the taxability of social security benefits either. This is another good reason to build flexibility into your retirement plans.
However, the income thresholds for when social security is taxable were set in the 1990's and never indexed to inflation. 25+ years later, many retirees are going to be faced with up to 85% of their social security checks taxed whether they have ROTH IRA's or not.
In 1993 the thresholds were set and have not changed:
Up to 50% of social security is taxed if single with $25,000 of income; $32,000 if married
Up to 85% of social security is taxed if single with $34,000 of income; $44,000 if married
In 1993 the thresholds were set and have not changed:
Up to 50% of social security is taxed if single with $25,000 of income; $32,000 if married
Up to 85% of social security is taxed if single with $34,000 of income; $44,000 if married