Not sure if this is the correct stack but I'll give it a shot:
United States Software Designer/Dev Scenario:
I have a salary job, lets say 100K a year, and I now also have opportunities to work for other companies as an independent contractor in addition to that. I already have all of the benefits from my salaried employer, so I'm trying to understand what to charge in this situation.
I did lots of research on what IC's should be charging but they all take into account the health benefits / insurance / tax and what not so they basically double+ the hourly rate of what they would work for as a salaried employee (in terms of 2,000 hours; so if the 2,000 hours boils down to 50 per hour the contracting fee would be 100 per hour). (Obviously this isn't accurate for everyone but it's a ballpark)
I understand that I will be paying more taxes while doing IC work in the US, but since I am already employed and have benefits from another company should this factor in to decreasing my rate?
Does anyone have experience in this area as it seems to be some what of an ethical dilemma? Or maybe not? I will be working my ass off to work for more than one employer. I don't know, I've asked lots of people and they all say you should still use the contracting rate that you would use if you were not employed by a company already.
I guess my overall question would be: "as someone that is already paid a salary, should I decrease my contracting fee working for another company at the same time because I already have all of the benefits I need"