the justifiable excuse is that it weakens salary negotiation to list a salary up front, because it might be anchoring the salary much higher than the candidate

the justifiable excuse is that it weakens salary negotiation to list a salary up front, because it might be anchoring the salary much higher than the candidate would have accepted and been happy with. i think this is fine, i think it's terrible to lie about the reason though, and basically everyone lies to you about it.