Personally, I would just forge one with a much higher pay level - but most people who play by the rules get screwed royally.
That's some universal truth right there.
A man was recently sentenced to 4 months of jail time because he lied about his salary to rent an apartment. [0]
[0]: https://www.capital.fr/economie-politique/un-locataire-conda...
I would prefer this system to the Equifax's panopticon to be honest.
The best system would be to have a third party insure your rent. So you would only communicate these kind of information to the third party of your choice with which you would have a legal contract including a privacy clause.
You have to legislate that away or legislate heavy property tax for real estate that is not used for personal living. Which might be sensible and necessary anyway if you look at price developments.
Also he only got caught because he wasn't paying the rent.
Closest I've had is current job, a global company, asking me first and last payslip of my previous employment, from which I was allowed/encouraged to retract information. I figure all they really wanted to check was employment and job title.
I've also almost always lied about my previous pay when asked (which recently has been less than before for some reason) to better match what I was seeking.