US, yup. I'd like to be able to support a family, and that means something like $1100-$2000/mo mortgage, likely 2 cars/insurance going something like $500, utilities around $300/month.

And that $10k isn't $10k. It's more like $6k after taxes.

So with food and miscellaneous expenses, things start to get tight pretty quickly. Health insurance for a self employed person for a family will easily be $2000+/month. So on top of the high taxes, which are even higher for being self employed, you're getting a non-employer-paid health insurance plan.

...I think my "$10k/month" was probably a bit low, actually.