I usually ask : why do you need to know? To which they usually respond "so that we can see if you fit in or pay scale". To what I ask what the scale is and I wi

I usually ask : why do you need to know? To which they usually respond "so that we can see if you fit in or pay scale". To what I ask what the scale is and I will tell them. After some back and forth they either give up or give the scale. If they give up or try to force me to tell, I respond that thank you but I am not interested as there is something strange in their process. If they tell, it means they really need to gauge because I have a job where the salaries can span half an order of magnitude so it may be useful for them to know if they can afford me.