When I was negotiating my current job that exact question came up.
I told him, "money is not my sole motivator. I don't need the money to survive, but anything less than what my experience is worth would be unsatisfactory. I fully expect to save this company a great deal more than I cost. "
You could substitute "make' for "save".
They countered with a much higher number than I expected.
Oh, one more thing. Insist on a severance package in case they lay you off or eliminate the position.
They said they have no plans to ever eliminate this position, and I said "so what's the risk? If you never eliminate the position then this severance package isn't worth the paper it's written on".
They agreed to 6 months pay after one year of service.
About 14 months later they the sold the plant to a different company and all the employees were laid off and went to work for the new company. Boy were they pissed when I came a'calling for my money. Work 14 months to get paid for 20, not bad
