Stephen and Marcia O’Connor

“We’re both born and bred here, we went to school here, we’ve lived all of our lives in Illinois. But you can’t retire in Illinois. So that’s why we decided almost five years ago to start looking around. We’ve gone through three different states and finally decided on Tennessee.

“Everybody that came into [work] as I was leaving over the last two weeks asked ‘Where are you going? Why are you going?’ I tell them it’s the taxes. And you almost see the wheels start turning. They live in a house that’s probably the same size that we have and they’re paying $13,000 to $15,000 [in property taxes.]

“And that’s just property tax. There’s no state income tax [in Tennessee]. And you know Illinois’ just went up 33 percent. They’re all always going to look for more ways to do it. It’s always more. And we’re not going to be here to help.

“Chicago is a great city; Illinois is a good state but it’s time to go. This is just the next phase and chapter of our lives. Something to look forward to. We’re very excited about it.”

Stephen and Marcia O’Connor
Huntley, Illinois