I am currently in the market for a new job, and have noticed that a lot of employers have the practice of asking for previous pay slips during the application/ interview process. In my mind, they only do this to see what your previous salary was in order to try and lowball you (because god forbid you changed jobs in order to greatly increase your earnings).
Am I correct in this assumption, or is there another legitimate reason that an employer would need/ want previous payslips? I don't want to refuse this info in applications if there's a valid reason for the request, but if there isn't then I feel like it's within my right to refuse this request entirely.