While the outcome of the 2012 election will still ultimately decide next steps on the federal budget, a status-quo election that leaves Democrats in control of the presidency and Republicans in control of the House of Representatives seems likely to produce a budget stalemate that will last through the rest of the year and will trigger a "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax increases in the new year.

On Sept. 20, the two congressional tax-writing committees held a joint hearing on the tax treatment of capital gains – gains on assets such as stocks, real estate, and other forms of wealth. The combined hearing – which brought together members of the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee with members of the Democratically controlled Senate Finance Committee – demonstrated the commitment of both parties to address tax reform issues soon after the elections. Such reforms may come as part of a larger budget package intended to prevent the federal government from going over a "fiscal cliff" on Jan. 2, when a host of Bush era-tax cuts are set to expire and across-the-board spending cuts required by the 2011 Budget Control Act will go into effect.