Home Isn’t Where the Ferrari Is
When New York challenged Thomas Campaniello’s residency, he responded by saying not only did he live in Florida, but he loved the Sunshine State. The proof? He kept his “teddy bears” there, including two classic guitars, a professional espresso machine, his doctoral degree certificate, a 1988 Ferrari and a catamaran that he sailed on Sundays.

When Campaniello, 88, earned more than $5 million in profits on the sale of a Florida office building in 2007, New York said he owed taxes up north of $488,781. Tax auditors pointed out that, while Campaniello might enjoy Florida, the rest of his life seemed to be in the Big Apple, according to the ruling of the New York Division of Tax Appeals. He sold high-end furniture in showrooms located in Florida, but his company’s headquarters were in Manhattan and his warehouse was in Queens.

He’d typically fly into New York on Tuesday, work during the week, and then fly back to Florida on Friday, according to the ruling. His wife of 51 years, meanwhile, ran Campaniello’s 57th Street showroom. Their apartment was in Riverdale, a wealthy enclave in the Bronx, where he still kept clothes and received mail. His only daughter and grandchild also lived in New York, and he saw doctors and dentists there, the court said.

Campaniello’s business and family ties outweighed his obvious affinity for Florida’s warm weather, an administrative law judge ruled in 2015.

“I do not find that petitioner has shown a change in his lifestyle that would support his claimed change of domicile,” she wrote in her opinion. As a result, Campaniello owed the full amount that New York claimed. His lawyers didn’t return a call seeking comment.

New York Really Does Have a Heart
New York was suspicious when Stephen Patrick, the former chief financial officer of Colgate Palmolive, declared that he’d moved to Paris—leaving behind, the state calculated, a tax bill of $2.2 million.

Then New York’s Division of Tax Appeals got to hear the whole story. It stretched back to a 1965 high school dance in Mamaroneck, a northern suburb of New York City, where Patrick met Clara, who was originally from Italy. According to the division’s ruling on his case, they dated for two years, but then Patrick went to West Point and Clara returned home. 

They tried to keep in touch, but she eventually sent word that she was to be married. According to the ruling, Patrick destroyed all her letters and mementos and, several years later, married someone else. He went on to raise four children in Connecticut while rising through the ranks at Colgate. But in 2007, the year he turned 58, Patrick had emergency surgery for a serious heart condition and, according to the court’s opinion, sought to reevaluate his life. (Patrick declined to comment on the case.)

He told his wife he wanted a divorce, moved closer to work in New York, and started searching for Clara, his long-lost love. Through her 85-year-old uncle, Patrick found her living in Paris—and married.

“We met, and we opened the door, we looked at each other, we just knew it was us again,” she testified. She divorced her husband. Patrick turned his life upside down, too. Previously a workaholic who rarely vacationed, he took long trips with Clara, learned scuba diving and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, according to the ruling. By 2009, they were married. Patrick retired early from Colgate, missing out on a large pay package, and moved in with Clara and her teenage son in a $3.2-million Paris apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower.