Legal Question in Employment Law in California

It is not very clear what you mean by making you pay your own taxes. You already pay your own taxes. Your employer deducts them from your pay and sends them to the government for you. It sounds like what your employer is trying to do is convert you from an employee to an independent contractor. Employers do not withhold taxes from payments to contractors. So the contractors get more money in each paycheck, but they have to submit estimated tax payments themselves every three months. Independent contractors also must pay their own employment taxes and do not qualify for unemployment and disability. Because employers have to pay for unemployment and other payroll taxes, it is to their advantage to use contractors rather than employees when possible. However it is illegal to treat an employee like a contractor. There are detailed rules for determining if a worker can be paid as a contractor or if they must be treated as an employee. Without knowing all the details of your specific situation and job it is impossible to tell if it is legal to convert you to contractor status or not.