[miroljub]

The limit is ~900 € per month, not ~400 €. People frequently forget the employer matching, which at the end comes from your pocket, since it's mandatory.

Also Freelancers and self-employed need to pay full contribution of 900 €, not "just" a half.

[cycomanic]

No the employers contribution doesn't come out of your pocket. The employers contribution comes out of the employers pocket and is the cost of doing business. That's like arguing the rent for the office space or even the warehouse or servers come out of your salary. Your salary is essentially a function of supply and demand and not a function of cost. I mean, if external costs would influence salary we'd see remote workers earn more than on site ones, because employers save on office rent. In reality it's more likely to be that remote workers have a lower salary.

[miroljub]

Frog the company perspective, your cost is what they have to pay to get you. That's where the supply & demand gets decided. Everything that reduces your net compensation from that amount comes effectively from your pocket.

Company "contributions" are just a government conspiracy to gaslight you into thinking you pay less taxes & contributions than you actually pay.