Big spending cuts vs. tax reform: Can Congress do both?

The US tax code, it appears, has no friends.

How is the tax code changing under Obama?
Timothy Geithner: Obama will look at changing tax code next year
Will Obama call for tax reform in the State of the Union?
.At a congressional hearing Thursday, members of both parties joined in calling the current system burdensome, unfair, and a hindrance to job creation. So did five expert witnesses.

The hearing underscored the reasons the tax code is suddenly a focus of bipartisan discussion – an issue that both Democrats and Republicans see as a priority for the economy. A fundamental overhaul of the tax code for the first time since 1986 no longer seems out of the realm of possibility.