Cuomo: Trump’s move to Florida is a ploy to avoid releasing his tax returns

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Friday that President Trump’s decision to switch his primary residence from New York to Florida was likely a move to avoid releasing his tax returns.

“My guess is that he was advised by his lawyers that it would help his case not to release his taxes to the Manhattan District Attorney if he could say he was no longer a resident of the state of New York,” Cuomo told MSNBC. “I could see it as a legal tactic, and the timing is coincidental.”{mosads}

Cuomo added that since many people from New York and other parts of the Northeast move to Florida, Trump is “maybe planning on retiring.”

“If anything, I think Donald Trump has alienated many of the people in the state of New York [through his policies],” he added. “To be a real New Yorker, you have to be inclusive. We don’t tolerate divisiveness.”

Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Fla., last month, with the president and his wife filing a “declaration of domicile” indicating that Mar-a-Lago Club would be their primary living space.

Trump confirmed the move Thursday night, tweeting that he paid “millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year” and has been “treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and the state.”

Trump remains in the middle of a longstanding legal fight with the state of New York over the release of his tax returns, and while the move is not expected to have any effect on the lawsuit, it could allow Trump to avoid the state’s top tax rate of nearly 9 percent and New York City’s top rate of nearly 4 percent.

Cuomo quickly responded to the news Thursday night, tweeting, “Good riddance. It’s not like @realDonaldTrump paid taxes here anyway. He’s all yours, Florida.”