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It's complicated.

This was the month that Republicans were going to sell voters on tax reform.

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Instead, President Donald Trump took a "working vacation" at his New Jersey golf resort, threatening to obliterate North Korea. His tax-reform point men, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, were last spotted in Scotland and the Hamptons. Most congressional Republicans are spending their August recess trying to avoid voters still furious about their bungled health-care legislation.

These desertions may be a metaphor for the tax mission.

"I am very skeptical there will be any real tax reform," said former Senator Bill Bradley, the driving force behind the last successful tax reform, in 1986. "It's extremely unlikely they are willing to make the necessary trade-offs."

The White House and congressional leadership insist that Bradley is wrong. They predict it will be easier to achieve consensus on taxes than on health care, and that Republicans will be motivated to compromise after their failure to repeal Obamacare.

OK, let them answer five questions.

A little smoke and a few mirrors might help. Maybe there's some of that stuff left over from the health-care fight.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Albert R. Hunt at ahunt1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net

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Five Questions for Republican Tax Reformers - Bloomberg