Recently setting a series of tables of financial data, I noticed that, if the column width varied, I had to set individual decimal-aligned tabs for each column to ensure that the numbers ended up a similar distance from the right edge of the column. (In other words, so that the numbers in the narrow columns aligned correctly on the decimal without having the numbers in the wide columns appear too far to the left.)

Would it be possible to create a set of tab stops whose positions are calculated from the right-hand edge rather than the left? This would have saved me considerable time in laying out this document. The text would still run left-to-right; it would only be the tab stop position that was changed.

The right-align tab wouldn't do in this case because it would lose alignment on the decimal.