WASHINGTON – House Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that he was “flabbergasted” by the Obama administration’s latest proposal to avoid tax increases and spending cuts at year end, while Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Republicans were in a “difficult place” and had to make more concessions.

Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday” that when Geithner outlined the administration’s proposal for him on Thursday, he looked at Geithner and said: “You can’t be serious.”

Geithner said on ABC’s “This Week” that although the two sides were “still some distance apart,” tax rates would have to go up for the wealthiest 2 percent of taxpayers. “That’s an essential part of any deal,” he said.