Many investors and taxpayers are tackling a daunting task: trying to plot a post-election personal finance strategy as Washington debates the future of Bush-era tax cuts. If they make decisions now, they fear they might guess wrong. But if they wait for the politics to settle, they could get hit with big tax bills they might have avoided.

“It makes things very difficult,” said Gary Hayes, head of the New England tax group at CBIZ Tofias in Boston.