@mayanataros - this is embedded in the expert's response, but I thought I would write it in layman's terms.
The IRS is required to collect Social Security and Medicare taxes. Those taxes are 15.3% of your earnings.
When you are a W-2 employee, your employer pays half and you pay half (it's withheld from your paycheck). The employer then takes a deduction for his half as a business expense.
Since you are self-employed, there is no paycheck to withhold this tax. So you owe the whole 15.3% on your income tax form and then get a deduction for half, similar to what the employer is able to do. this is called the "self employment tax".
Then there is the income tax.
that is why your gut feel is that the tax is high. it's not that it is high, it's just there are two taxes you are paying - just like the W-2 employee.
if you made $20,000, then the self employment tax is going to be around $3000. And then the Income tax is going to be around $400. ($20,000 less the standard deduction of $14,600 less $1500 for the SE deduction and then 10% tax on the remainder).
