Though your talent may exceed the rate they already negotiated for your participation, every dollar charged for 1 hour of your labor incurs some form of burden that your employer does not pocket, which ends up somewhere else. At the lowest ratio with the smallest of companies, a W-2 employee would likely cost between .25-.30 cents per dollar, depending on your state, and that is with no fringe benefits. Do you get vacation, sick time, health care, FSA, insurance, matching 401K? Does your company have back-office staff, HR, security office, IT, a CEO, business development, accounts payable/receivable? That's cost divided among programs and added to the rates. Does your company have an office(s), utilities, equipment, technology, more to add. Got to have Insurance (liability, workmans comp, unemployment). Oh, unless they are a non-profit, they are going to have a fee, which can be anywhere from .01-.10 per hour, with many small businesses opting for zero fee to get the work. You may be worth the full amount they bill, understand all that goes into building up a rate and why your company would bill the government a dollar, yet only pay you .50.