[btaitelb]

If you go out on your own and contract with that same company, chances are good that you could easily pull in $100/hr (I've heard numbers much higher than that, but am trying to be conservative here). Now, there's a higher risk for contracting, and you're on your own for paying taxes, but if you work from home and have a home office, you can claim lots of deductions. Still, assuming a 35% tax rate with no deductions, and spending only 75% of the year doing billable work, that's still a nice salary of $101k.

If you don't feel confident to go out on your own, or need stability and/or benefits, you can always start shopping around at other places (lots of companies are hiring for your skillsets in the DC area). This can be a good opportunity to practice your negotiation skills, and see how high of an offer you can get (tell them what your current salary is and that you know you're underpaid). Then you can either take the new job or go back to your current company and get them to match.