I disagree and think this is completely wrong. I've paid a ton of self-employment tax and the write-offs for a web developer have never made me better off than someone who makes 100K and doesn't pay self employment tax. An employee making 100K and paying regular taxes and low state income tax probably has over 70K left over after taxes. How can someone making 70K pre-tax that has to pay self-employment tax do better than someone who gets > 70K after tax?