Pay and Taxes

[Geoff Shang]

Hi,

Sorry for posting this here.  I've seen people post about work matters 
before, but if it's felt to be too far off-topic, feel free to reply 
privately.
A friend of mine is working for a US-based start-up and wants to employ 
me.  Simply put, they need more hands.

I would be doing various sys-admin type things, including specialising in 
some technologies that current employees don't have time to get fully up 
to speed on.

Now I've not done this sort of work at anything like an industry rate, so 
I don't know what to ask for in terms of sallary or entitlements.  As I'm 
not working currently, anything will help.  On the other hand, I don't 
want to rip myself off, or price myself out of a job.  As I'm in Israel 
and they're in the USA, there's probably an expectation that I would not 
be asking for as much as an equivalent person might get there, but I don't 
even know what a going rate is here for a job like this.

As I don't have vast years of experience, I'm prepared to take an 
entry-level salary at this point, particularly as I've been told there's 
some likelihood of a raise in a few months.

So with all this in mind, my questions are:

1.  What would be a reasonable salary to ask for, and what are the basic 
entitlements I should receive (e.g. leave, etc)?

2.  If I need to do some contract work until the full-time job is set up, 
what's a good rate to ask for?

3.  As an Israeli working for an American company, I need to know about 
taxes.  Specifically, what are *their* tax ombligations here?  Any English 
language resources on this issue would be very helpful.

If anyone has any advice regarding the above, I'd very much appreciate it. 
I have another possible lead re the tax info but I'm not sure where to 
turn re pay, and your collective whisdom on this subject will be 
invaluable.

Thanks,
Geoff.