Trump, lifelong New Yorker, declares himself resident of Florida

WASHINGTON (NYTIMES) - President Donald Trump - rich, bombastic and to many Americans the epitome of a New Yorker - has always been intertwined with the city he called his lifelong home. No longer.

In late September, Mr Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Florida, according to documents filed with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Mrs Melania Trump, the First Lady, also changed her residence to Palm Beach in an identical document.

Each of the Trumps filed a "declaration of domicile" saying that the Mar-a-Lago Club, Mr Trump's resort in Palm Beach, will be their permanent residence.

"If I maintain another place or places of abode in some other state or states, I hereby declare that my above-described residence and abode in the state of Florida constitutes my predominant and principal home, and I intend to continue it permanently as such," reads the document that President Trump filed.

"I formerly resided at 721 Fifth Avenue," the document says, referring to Trump Tower, which has been his primary residence since he moved into the skyscraper off 57th Street in midtown Manhattan in 1983.

An attachment lists his "other places of abode" as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the address for the White House, and his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Since becoming president, Mr Trump has spent 99 days at Mar-a-Lago compared with 20 days at Trump Tower.

White House officials declined to say why Mr Trump changed his primary residence, but a person close to the president said the reasons were primarily for tax purposes.

It was unclear how much time he would spend in New York in the future. Under New York law, if he spends more than 184 days a year there, he will have to pay state income taxes. Florida, which does not have a state income tax or inheritance tax, has long been a place for the wealthy to escape the higher taxes of the north-east.