The most important development in the ongoing tax negotiations is Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s recent acknowledgement that President Obama is willing to go over the so-called fiscal cliff. While it has been heavily hinted that the Obama administration would use this tactic, Geithner told CNBC that it is “absolutely” something Obama is prepared to do. What this means is Obama believes he has all the negotiation leverage when it comes to taxes and the GOP has none.

With tomorrow, April 17, being tax day, Gallup is out with a new poll showing the country evenly divided about the amount of taxes they pay. Roughly half the country, 46%, thinks they play too much, and roughly half the country, 47%, thinks the amount they pay is about right. This may explain why Democrats and the White House are focused on the Buffett rule, not taxes in general.

I notice that the Daily Beast decided to do a long PR ad for an interview with Peter Peterson, which tried to make clear just how reasonable the man is. Many of his cheerleaders quickly hailed it as persuasive proof. But the problem is that on the issue of the deficit, Peterson is a self-serving hypocrite.