You're not paying 30-40%. Marginal rates are capped at 39.6% and the vast majority of your income is taxed below that unless you're making many hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Stock market gains are 15% unless you're selling within a year of purchase, and even then they're only taxes as any other income, not penalized in any way. This isn't even taking into account the deductions like home office(s), having your business pay for as many expenses as you can reasonably argue, etc.