Article Lead Image

Jason Lam/Flickr

Finnish police want people to rat out cheap pizzerias

No dollar slice is safe!

 

Nayomi Reghay

Internet Culture

Posted on Oct 16, 2015   Updated on May 27, 2021, 7:18 pm CDT

Calling all pizza rats: the Finnish police want YOU.

In a bizarre campaign to crack down on tax-evading businesses, authorities in Finland are asking people to report establishments that sell pizza for less than six euros (or roughly seven dollars).

Finns have responded with a mixture of bafflement and humor.

Many questioned the authenticity of accounts like @AnneJutta, who tweeted that unless it’s for a temporary promotion, pizza slices cannot be sold for less than six euros.

(Sorry, this embed was not found.)

But Finnish police have confirmed that this account is indeed real, and they even offered a visual breakdown of the true costs of a slice.

(Sorry, this embed was not found.)

To be fair, this graphic really makes it seem like famished Finns should be entitled to an entire pie at these prices.

According to the police, a third of pizza-making costs cover ingredients, slightly more than a third (36.5 percent) cover wages, 11.5 percent is spent on the value-added tax (VAT), 9.6 percent goes to rents, and the remaining 8 percent cover miscellaneous fees.

If you thought the struggle was real when you watched Pizza Rat struggle down those New York City subway steps, think about how much more real it is over in Europe.

 H/T Yle | Photo via Jason Lam/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)

Share this article
*First Published: Oct 16, 2015, 3:18 pm CDT