If someone is interested I can accept guest post on my blog.

my question is more of a general one about the current world-state. in America it is typically taboo to discuss compensation. to ask often evokes physically palpable feelings of discomfort and sometimes outright aggression. my belief is that these feelings derive from the widespread association between self-worth and compensation. the fear is if my compensation is low (or lower on a relative scale) then i am worth less. i don't believe this is true, and i see it is an impediment for having an open and stress-free discourse about pay.

do these ideas resonate at all with you personally? have you experienced anything like this in Poland? did you have any second-thoughts or misgivings regarding sharing your pay?

Its also taboo because we don't want to alter others' views toward us based on how much money we make.

That's precisely what I think is so flawed about these feelings. The amount of money that you command makes a statement about your value beyond money.

So the question is, what happens to those of us whose pay is already public (state employees, professional athletes, C-executives at publicly traded companies, movie stars), and for those of us who freely divulge the information?

Is there backlash from this behavior? Is the taboo justified?

I make a much higher income than almost all my friends and most acquaintances. (I'm a programmer, employed full-time by a company, got about $350k in 2010, living and working in NYC.)

I never really took the taboo against talking about income seriously either, until I realized that answering these kinds of questions honestly was seriously poisoning my interactions with people. Some people would just get jealous and resentful, others would make silent, unwarranted assumptions about me, still others just became more prone to "hey, can you cover me and I'll pay you back?" me with no intention of doing so and for higher and higher amounts.

So, I now discuss my income only with people who I know have a high one as well. Everyone else gets a very frank "I'm sorry, but that's none of your business." What's interesting is that I get more pleasant reactions now than when I answered honestly.

So yeah, based on my experience, it is in your interest to obey the taboo and keep your mouth shut.

Instead of being frank and saying "I'm sorry, but that's none of your business.", I just say "A good amount." and no one has the balls to pursue further. :P