If you spent your working years as an employee, your taxes on wages were probably pretty straightforward. You worked, contributed to employer-based benefits, and the net was reported to you on a W-2 form, which you used to plug into your 1040 tax form. There is not much wiggle room when it comes to reporting that income and paying the associated taxes.
The gift (and the curse) of retirement income planning is that you have control. If you exercise that control wisely, the gift is that you will pay less in taxes during retirement than you expected. The curse is the possibility that you will not use your control the way you should, and you will end up paying more in taxes. The main factors are when you pull your money out, how your money is invested and how you navigate transitions.
