[asdff]

I don't think they have to ask anyone. IRS and other agencies could pull all this information. IRS knows how much rent my landlord makes. County knows how many units are on the parcel my landlord owns and the landlords property tax burden. Lender reports mortgage data to the government, now you know my landlords mortgage. By aggregating just this info, most of which like the county parcel data already being public, you can get the true costs towards housing paid by everyone in the country living in housing.

For income once again you can turn to IRS tax return data. I believe IRS can also sum your accounts as well as review transaction history. Creditors also report debts to IRS.

All told I believe the federal government can access all the information needed to know exactly what almost every American is paying for housing, how much they are being paid, how much they are spending, and how much debt they have.