Wow, do the self-employed get fucked by the IRS, and there is definitely no lube. Earn $12000 in SE income, and instead of being able to take the standard and personal deductions and pay less than $400 in tax, you get to pay nearly $1700. Taunting you by allowing you to deduct half of it... but from adjusted gross income, which is the thing you don't have any of when you are SE (that's W-2 income) is a particularly vicious touch.

It's not quite as bad for me, as I do have a small amount of W-2 income and a substantial amount in unemployment, but I'm still going to end up paying more on the same amount of income than I would if I could pool all three sources and use my deductions for all of them.