Python doesn't care either way as long as indentation is consistent (though there's a common misunderstanding that Python cares). However PEP-8 specifies that code should be indented using 4 spaces and editors should be configured to render tabs as 8 spaces (likely to make mixed tabs & spaces really obvious). But PEP-8 also specifies that code should follow whatever is the coding standard in a given project.

IOW, Python is actually far more pragmatic than most people (including most Python programmers) think. It just has a culture that strongly advocates following the rules (i.e. PEP-8 and PEP-20).

Python treats a tab character as the amount of spaces needed to go into the nearest multiple of 8 column. With py2 ability to mix different indentation as far as it amounts to the same column, you can format your code in pretty interesting ways.

Well, python most certainly do care in the case when tabs and spaces are used inconsistently. In python2 you could even redefine tab width inline like https://gist.github.com/yxhuvud/2006599 .

Using Python for 10+ years, never used tabs.