Lie to them to bump it up or tell them that your previous employer asked not to disclose it. Works every time. They're using a standard technique to smack your pay down and it works for a lot of people but there's nothing wrong with playing them at their own game and using it against them. Not joking but when it comes to negotiating pay, you need to take control over it.

I managed to go from (I've converted these from GBP) $23k to $56k by doing that in one jump and three jumps later I'm earning $110k sitting on my butt at home. Just requires some balls and outward confidence which I will admit was slightly alcohol fuelled when I was on the phone choke hmm.

Plus I know what I'm doing but that's a case of two decades of hard work and is entirely separate to the job market and salary expectations unfortunately which is all about knocking people's salary down.