IMO there is a VAST difference in the overall feel and balance of a knife with a tapered tang, versus one without. That being said, there is a limit on how thin the stock or blade is, and still gain anything in the way of feel and balance from tapering. Opinions seem to vary, but over my career, 3/16" and under has always been were most cease to install/use tapered tangs.
Personally, with the majority of my blades being forged, and nearly all of those having distal tapers forged in, it's just routine for me to have tapered tangs. If I were to say a specific thickness for my blades, most would be 1/4" +/- at the ricasso, and taper fore and aft from there.
Where I said previously that there is a vast difference between a knife with a tapered tang, and one without, then that goes double for a knife with distal tapers versus a knife that is equal thickness throughout it's length.
Some might scoff, but installing a distal taper (blade is thickest in the middle of the ricasso, and tapers both directions from there) will also create a blade that is not only lighter and better balanced, but also stronger as it applies to lateral stresses, then a blade of a single thickness throughout it's length.
How can that be? It's Physics.
What's the strongest structure? An arch. If you apply lateral force to a blade that is the same thickness throughout, those forces seek out, and concentrate in the weakest point, often ending in a broken blade. If a blade is tapered, and you apply that same lateral force, the blade basically turns into an arch....where the forces/stresses are equally distributed throughout the arch.....meaning that the blade will endure more force/stress before it bends or breaks, versus the aforementioned blade of equal thickness throughout it's length.
Distal tapers are a huge key for anyone seeking to test for ABS JS (I don't say MS too because by then, people know how important distal tapers are in a test blade). Over the years I've had a number of individuals fail their JS test, because their test blade did not have distal tapers, and even though the blades were differentially heat treated, they broke during the bending portion of testing.