“Why do I have to pay now?!”

You're not wasting my time. But, I don't know why it varies by region. I also suspect that some places it used to be available, it is no longer. However, if no changes were made to the account, it might have been grandfathered in.

I found no references to the "None" option in the U.S. support document other than the last section:

Remove a payment method online

You can also remove a payment method after signing in to appleid.apple.com.

In some countries and regions, you might need to add a new payment method using appleid.apple.com in order to remove the existing payment method.

Remove a payment method from your Apple ID - Apple Support

Some other websites (older posts) implied that you can't select "None" if you have any outstanding charges. So, get the subscriptions removed and see if it becomes and option.

I don't believe that Apple offers the "None" option anymore.

If you're trying to change your store region, see here:

Change your Apple ID country or region - Apple Support

If you have subscriptions that won't end for a long time, contact Apple Support to see if they can cancel them sooner.

It varies by region. And anyone who told you that life is fair was lying or clueless.

I find they're often the most interesting questions. ;-)