[UncleMeat]

Sure. But you'd be able to take home even more money if they were paying SF salaries. It is a fine arrangement as it stands but the big companies are extracting a greater percentage of your labor since they can afford to pay you less and you will accept less.

[sbacic]

In principle, yes. But things are not always so clear cut. In certain European countries, there is a special tax regime that lets you pay very little tax as long as you stay under a specified limit (the highest is, AFAIK, €100k/year and 15% tax).

In such a scenario, you're better off trading a lower salary for more free time (if possible, of course) as a large portion of a higher salary would be eaten up by higher taxes and/or COL (if you had to be relocate).

In essence, you're making less in absolute values but you're /much/ better off in relative terms (say, per hour).