Excellent rebuttal. You had me convinced at "n".
We also follow this so-called "taboo" in our office, and everything is peaceful. There is a rule to not talk about it, but it is not strictly enforced...if one really would like to reveal his salary, he could; but it seems that there just isn't a motivation to do that.
BTW, it's not like this knowledge makes things significantly worse in the workplace. Government employee salaries are public, and where I live now (Sweden), all salaries are public. The newspaper even publishes each year the top wages in the local area.
Probably a self-confidence thing as much as anything.
EDIT (meta): How many times it should be stated on HN that downvoting is not for expressing disagreement...
Just reply your opinion and move on.
Someone will benefit from that arrangement, but it won't be the majority of employees.
Which is not necessary tied to titles, right.
The only entity which benefits from salary secrecy is the employer itself.
I misunderstood the meaning from your original posting - I thought you meant that the CTO should get paid the same as a junior programmer should get paid the same as a janitor.
This looks like a loaded question. It's not a perceived advantage, it's a real advantage to know how much you are paid compared to others. I'm still in college and I like the fact that scores are public. When I'll get hired, how do I maximize what I get paid if I don't know what others are getting?