[SHOwnsYou]

Your not wanting to get ripped off (hiring a questionable employee) perfectly demonstrates the problem posed in the original question.

Salary negotiation is inherently adversarial. It will remain that way until employers start offering potential hires more money than they are asking for.

If someone tells you they want 80k, you aren't going to come back and tell them that you've budgeted up to 100k. You're going to tell them maybe you can swing 70k (another lie, like what the employee may be doing to you).

Just as you don't want to hire someone that will lie about previous salary to get more, I don't want to work for a boss that will lie to keep more money in the company coffer.