>After tax, healthcare and pension, I make 80k Euros as a highly skilled tech worker in Germany.
That's insanely high post-tax salary for Germany. Most aren't making that before-tax. You're an exceptionably rare circumstance that's far from the norm.
I wouldn't call it insanely high, given that my baseline is tech jobs.
As a freelancer, you make around 800-1000$ a day working for bigger German companies, and the bar to become one is not very high from my experience on both sides of the table. For internal employees the ceiling is at around 120k for senior engineers, above that you need to go into middle management territory or be an EM equivalent.
That's insanely high post-tax salary for Germany. Most aren't making that before-tax. You're an exceptionably rare circumstance that's far from the norm.