But quite often that is valid. Any job can only pay as much as the job is worth.

If a more experienced developer who demands a higher salary is taking on work which can be carried out by a less experienced and therefore cheaper developer, it's to be expected that they wouldn't pay for the more expensive developer.

Just because someone is a world class michelin star chef, you're still only going to pay them mcdonalds wages for flipping burgers

Right, but if you give someone the bracket, they say they're fine with it, they interview well and then HR says "it's too expensive" and you're billing yourself as a youthful fancy startup... then reading between the lines is a skill.