They don't do that out of benevolence. The reality is they know a huge portion of their customer base are already on the lower income side. If required that info upfront they would lose millions of customers. Never underestimate how many people live on the fringes of society. No bank account, no credit cards, no offical address.

Also worth remembering that selling you stuff is not how google makes most of their money. The sell you as a product. The more people they have on their system the more money they make even if they are not buying anything.

I've had an android phone for many years without ever putting in a CC to the play store. I've bought apps though through Fdroid though.