Trump joins Americans fleeing high-tax New York for Florida

Like many other New Yorkers, President Trump is seeking to lower his tax obligations by leaving the Big Apple.

In a tweet fired off on Thursday evening, Trump said that while he hopes to stay in the White House for another five years, his family will be making Palm Beach, Florida, their permanent residence. He added that he will always have a special place in his heart for New York, despite paying millions in taxes and being "treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state."

New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo responded "good riddance" to the news.

Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania, filed documents to change their official residences to Palm Beach, Florida, last month, as first reported by The New York Times on Thursday. Palm Beach is where Mar-a-Lago is located.

Florida has no statewide income tax, estate tax or inheritance tax. Meanwhile, New York's top income tax rate is more than 8 percent.

TRUMP SLAMS NEW YORK, CUOMO FOR 'RIDICULOUSLY HIGH TAXES' AND 'HARASSING' HIS BUSINESSES

HIGH-TAX STATE EXODUS SEEN ACCELERATING AS CONTROVERSIAL SALT CAP MAY BE HERE TO STAY

Trump was born in Queens and has been a lifelong New Yorker, though he has recently been extremely critical of the state’s tax policies.

In July, the president slammed Cuomo over the state’s high taxes and hostile business climate, saying it is “no wonder” both people and businesses were “fleeing New York in record numbers.”

New York is among a number of high-tax states contending with an exodus of residents to lower-tax states – a trend that has ramped up after state and local tax (SALT) deductions were capped at $10,000 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Earlier this year, Cuomo said the state was seeing “significantly lower tax receipts” as a result of the SALT changes. New York Lieutenant Gov. Kathy Hochul said the changes decreased revenues and increased taxes on the middle class.

Estimated payments were $2.3 billion below forecasts, the state said.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that while Florida received more movers than any other state last year, New York's outflows to the Sunshine State were the highest – 63,772 people. New York had the third-largest outflows of any state, with 452,580 people moving out within the past year.

As previously reported by FOX Business, the SALT-driven exodus is likely only going to accelerate over the coming years – now that people have seen the tangible effects on their finances following this year’s tax season.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

As a high-net-worth taxpayer, Trump could come under scrutiny since New York is particularly “aggressive” in requiring taxpayers to prove that they actually moved with the intent to stay either permanently or indefinitely. He would need to spend less than 184 days in New York to avoid its tax obligations.

Geoffrey Weinstein, special counsel in the Tax, Trusts & Estates Department of Cole Schotz, told FOX Business that anyone maintaining a residence in the state with an adjusted grow income in excess of $500,000 has between a 90 percent and 99 percent chance of being audited.

Both California and New York have said the number of audits will rise as an increasing amount of taxpayers look to move out.