Imho, there is an easy way to turn this around. Ask: "What is your range for the role?" Then it becomes easy to say: "Fine, I'm comfortable with this range", or

Imho, there is an easy way to turn this around. Ask: "What is your range for the role?" Then it becomes easy to say: "Fine, I'm comfortable with this range", or maybe "Oh, I'm afraid I can't afford this". Once you're at the offer stage, you can bargain about specifics.