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[Art Deco]

   Mustached Americans seek tax break for grooming products

 Published February 20, 2012 | FoxNews.com


 As Congress pays lip service to Americans seeking tax reforms, an
underrepresented constituency has a hairy proposition -- getting lawmakers
to approve a $250 tax refund for mustached Americans.

Members of the American Mustache
Institute<http://www.americanmustacheinstitute.org/>traipsed up to
Capitol
Hill <http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/capitol-hill.htm#r_src=ramp>Monday
-- while lawmakers were out of town for President's Day -- to seek a
tax break for men with facial hair, who (AMI-authored studies show) are 38
percent better-looking than the rest of America.

But demonstrating that the organization is not biased, AMI Chairman Aaron
Perlut, who claims to personally spend "somewhere between $1,000 to $1,500"
annually on grooming products, said anyone with hair care costs would be
eligible for the $250 annual tax refund.

"We have to be fair -- not everybody likes chocolate ice cream and not
everybody wants to be 38 percent better-looking," Perlut told FoxNews.com.

Declaring mustached Americans not only more attractive and sexually dynamic
(institute studies show), Perlut said follicly enhanced Americans are
strong contributors to the economy -- since trimmers, wax and other
accoutrements are costly luxuries -- as well as protectors of the
environment -- because not-shaving saves water.

Putting its money where its mouth is, AMI is planning an April 1 million
mustache march from the Capitol to the White House. Adding a sweetener to
enhance participation, it has also recruited H&R Block to make donations to
Millions From One, which provides clean drinking water to those in need,
for every individual who participates in either AMI's Facebook campaign or
the march itself.

"We're very serious that Americans should never settle for less when it
comes to getting the tax deductions they're entitled to," Scott Gulbransen
of H&R Block said in a press release. "That's why we are supporting the
American Mustache Institute's 'STACHE Act movement by making charitable
contributions to Millions From One for every participant in the campaign.”

"We technically have not have a lot of corporate sponsorship on purpose but
in this case we needed some validation for our effort,"  Perlut said.

The Stimulus to Allow Critical Hair Expense Act, or 'STACHE Act, is the
brainchild of John Yeutter, an associate professor of accounting and tax
policy at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Okla. Yeutter issued
a 2010 white paper noting the link "between the growing and maintenance of
mustaches and incremental income."

"It appears clear that mustache maintenance costs qualify for and should be
considered as a deductible expense related to the production of income
under Internal Revenue Code Section 212," Yeutter wrote.

The proposal doesn't yet have a sponsor, though Perlut said AMI is
appealing to Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., and Sen. John
Hoeven<http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/john-hoeven.htm#r_src=ramp>,
R-N.D., for support. Perlut said the group is particularly interested in
Hoeven, the only senator with facial hair, as AMI "actually played a
significant role" in supporting his Senate campaign.

Hoeven's office was not immediately available.

AMI suggested that the dearth of mustached lawmakers in both Congress and
on the state level may be the reason the country hasn't yet created a tax
break for hair grooming products. Perlut said only 34 representatives, "not
including Nancy
Pelosi<http://www.foxnews.com/topics/politics/nancy-pelosi.htm#r_src=ramp>"
have facial hair while 26 states are "unrepresented by mustached Americans."

But as lawmakers try to trim the budget, the group may have a hard time
convincing lawmakers that the break is vital to the intended beneficiaries.


"Studies have indicated that people with facial hair earn more on average
than our clean-shaven mortal counterparts," Perlut said. "There is no
question that we have a steep hill to climb."
-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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