The tax break for mustache wearers lost a key supporter this week -- by never really having him on board in the first place -- but the wax goes on. Right out to the tips.
The American Mustache Institute erroneously reported that proud mustache-wearer Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-MD, had lent his support to the "'Stach Act," which would allow mustache-bearers to claim up to $250 a year in deductions on their taxes, according to the Associated Press.
Grooming is not free, you see.
Sadly, the support was never there, according to the AP. Bartlett's office forwarded a copy of the Mustache Institute's proposal to a Congressional committee, which led the Institute to trumpet Bartlett's support.
Bartlett -- who is in the middle of a reelection fight that now includes the stache flap, used as opponents as evidence that the 10-term incumbent has lost control of his staff -- has sported a mustache since the 1950s, the AP said, but does not support a 'stache tax-break, his spokeswoman said.
"For the record: Roscoe is pro-stache, but he does not believe Americans should pay for people's personal grooming decisions," Bartlett's chief of staff, Deborah Burrell, said in a statement e-mailed to the Associated Press.
But the Mustache Institute struck back, announcing plans to send Burrell an autographed picture of Burt Reynolds.
"We are highly disappointed by their reversal based on the fact that the congressman's opponents in the race are jumping on the bandwagon to criticize him," said mustache institute chairman Aaron Perlut said. "They obviously don't understand what it is to be a mustached American."
Tax Breaks for Mustaches Cut Out
A measure to give mustache-wearers up to $250 in tax breaks lost its chief proponent in Congress.
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