But it's not as though property taxes and ongoing maintenance costs don't exist for apartments. The income the owner receives from the rents has to cover all of that.
Well, yes and no. If you own and the roof needs replacing, you need to have that money on hand (or be able to take out another loan to cover it, which isn't always possible). If you rent, you don't.
I don't see how that's important to the discussion at all. Sure, if you live somewhere, a problem with the roof is "your problem". But if you own, it's also "your responsibility" vs renting where it's "their responsibility". And the person whose responsibility it is is the one that is saddled with the need to acquire that lump sum of money to deal with it.
How much does being able to call an expense an expense figure into things? Like, why wouldn't I set up a company owns my house and rents it back to me?
