It doesn’t matter honestly, 65k versus 80k after 42% tax on the extra 15k is about 800 euros a month. Not qualitatively different.
€80k is $94k is £69k. Takehome is 60% Germany, 73% UK, 75% US
If Germany taxed at US rates at €65k it would be an extra €867 a month, "Not qualitatively different"
When US IT jobs are on twice the salary ($150-200k or €130-160k) that's a hell of a lot bigger impact than the tax.
US https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator
UK https://listentotaxman.com/
Germany https://www.how-to-germany.com/income-tax-calculator/
I never paid 42% my entire engineer life.
Like: If you have a lockable, separate office and work (almost) exclusively from home, you can basically deduct the entire room for tax purposes (rent + electricity + heating + insurance + etc).
That can make a huge chunk.
Even an additional single sofa/couch can crush this plan.
And: If you say the room is worth 500€, you dont get back this 500€ with yearly tax declaration - you only get this amount deducted from total income, rising your after-tax income a little bit. In fact, with this solution you loose a room PLUS some money - rather rent out the room 1 week per AirBnB and pocket this in cash and you are fine.
Source: I was once hit by them with these rules.
Put 800 euro a month into an investment account and you’re a millionaire by age 50.