$ perl -we'$_="\t\tYou\tare\tmaking\t\ttoo\tmany\tassumptions...\t\t";

  s/(^|[^\t]+)(\t+)/$1." " x (length($2) * 8 - (length($1) & 7))/ge;
print'
                You     are     making          too     many    assumptions...          $ 



( s/(.*?)(\t+)/...  

##</code><code>##

$ perl -we'$_="\t\tYou\tare\tmaking\t\ttoo\n\tmany\tassumptions...\t";

  s/(.*?)(\t+)/$1." "x(length($2)*8-(length($1)&7))/ge;
print'
                You     are     making          too
        many    assumptions...  $