[xg]

Nitrogen, as a contractor your taxes should end up being much lower. Anyone doing freelance work should absolutely hire an accountant to figure out what's deductable (meals, office space, tech gear). All of those expenses come off the top and in my experience, you end up with ~30% more dollars at the end of the day relative to what you'd end up with if you were taking a standard salary.

[nitrogen]

Perhaps, but "higher taxes" and "no benefits" are a great way to justify a higher contracting rate ;).