It's not lying if you're careful how you respond to their question on salary. I always respond with my compensation is $X, where X is my previous year's salary, bonus, and cash value of PTO and other benefits.
But he was lying. That's different. What you're making is irrelevant, and if it is for them (i.e. the company you're interviewing at is making an actual problem of not knowing), then you don't want to work there. What you're looking to make is much more relevant.