Americans have a cultural aversion to discussing personal income. A 2018 survey from Capital Group found “salary or household income” to be Americans’ foremost conversational taboo, ahead of “marriage problems, mental illness, drug addiction, race, sex, politics, and religion.” And when it comes to the corporate world, many companies make it a matter of policy to keep the reality of who makes how much locked in a figurative vault; according to 2021 research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, “nearly half of full-time workers reported they were either discouraged or prohibited from discussing wages or salary” between 2017 and 2018. READ MORE