Compensation per hour is being pushed up. What's so special about taxable wages as opposed to non-taxable benefits? If taxable wages are preferable to non-taxa

Compensation per hour is being pushed up. What's so special about taxable wages as opposed to non-taxable benefits? If taxable wages are preferable to non-taxable benefits, should we eliminate the various laws (e.g. Obamacare, 401k) that push employers to provide benefits rather than wages? Also, there are many market distortions that won't push wages up but will still create scarcity. For example, we could simply ban food vendors/cigarette walas/etc, or we could impose various occupational licensing rules that raise wages for some while lowering them for others. Why are those not worth thinking about?