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You owe tax on the difference between contributed dollars and converted dollars. So if you contributed $100 and it historically had grown to $150, you would owe tax on $50 to convert.

If that $150 in value is suddenly $120 instead, your tax bill to convert is significantly cheaper.

ROTH contributions grow tax-free. Doing your conversions now allows you to buy equities are they're currently discounted prices, maximizing your potential long-term tax-free gains.

Especially if you hit the RMD threshold in retirement. Even more important is how RMDs affect Medicare premiums(1). The best advice I have is to avoid RMDs as much as possible since they can/will affect other parts of your retirement strategy. Thus, converting to ROTH today may save you lots of cash in the future.

(1) https://www.fedsmith.com/2024/10/23/rmds-are-silently-increa...

Because you have to pay taxes on it when you convert, and you will have less to pay taxes on if you do it now.

Rebuy equities/reinvest dividends at reduced prices, pay taxes now, enjoy tax-free growth. If the current admin is serious about trying to get rid of income tax, then that would eliminate a major advantage of trad vs roth.

Lower absolute taxes