[dudul]

Don't give your current salary, it's irrelevant, and you're right, it will be used to cap the offer.

You should not feel uncomfortable communicating your expectations. Ideally, add a little padding to your expectations to account for the company's counter-offer.

As an example, if you want to make $100k, I would say "I'm looking for something in the 110k to 120k range". It leaves room for negotiation.

When asked how much I'm expecting in my new position, I usually give a ballpark estimate and immediately ask "what kind of budget are you working with?". And they better give me an answer, because I just gave them a range, I expect the same willingness to share information.