Cuomo signs mental health tax check off

Mental health advocates have finally got their long-desired tax check off fund.

On Saturday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that creates a tax check off box in New York State income tax forms that will allow taxpayers to make a tax-free donation to a fund that will help end the stigma around mental illness.

The check off — now one of 11 on state tax forms — had the support of many local mental health organizations, including the mental health associations in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, and had been a goal of some mental health advocates for years.

"This law will begin to stem the tide of the discrimination and stigma of mental illness," said state Mental Health Association CEO Glenn Liebman. "One in four people in New York and the nation suffer with mental illness and the worst part of the illness is the mythology that people with mental illness are violent and crazy. Two out of every three people who need mental health services never seek these services for fear of being labeled as crazy or psychotic. This has to change and now we are better equipped with resources to facilitate that change."

The collected funds will be in the custody of the state tax commissioner and comptroller and made available to the state Office of Mental Health. Since their creation in 1982, check-off programs have contributed more than $51 million to causes ranging from breast cancer research to the World Trade Center memorial to support for the facilities built for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

The change will take effect Jan. 1 and be reflected on 2016 tax forms.

Twitter: @coynereports