"Please pay the welcome fee." | Poste Italiane, it's official: starting tonight, we'll pay to withdraw money.

Poste Italiane is introducing a welcome tax on Italian bank accounts. It seems absurd, but it isn't. Starting tonight, we'll all pay it.

Bad news for Italian citizens: it seems that just a few hours ago, a decision was made to introduce what many are calling a welcome tax. What does it consist of? A sum of money we'll all be forced to pay, but no one expected it to actually happen.

Poste Italiane is one of our country's institutions, one to which citizens consistently turn to take advantage of the services it provides. For this very reason, the introduction of a tax is truly concerning to everyone.

It should also be considered that Italy is experiencing the worst fiscal squeeze in all of Europe, and hearing talk of new taxes certainly doesn't encourage the population.

In short, in a moment that is already difficult economically , this news ends up upsetting the balance and there is a risk that citizens will feel literally oppressed by all of this.

The concern of Italian families

We are in a rather challenging economic period, with the crisis taking its toll on a large number of families who, until now, have had to contend with exponential increases in the price of all consumer goods—be it fuel or groceries —but their shopping carts have become heavier, while wages have stagnated, resulting in a loss of purchasing power. In short, everything seems to be working against a family budget that already appears to be in crisis.

Now, Poste Italiane has added considerable concern to our concerns by announcing this mysterious tax, which will undoubtedly once again impact the expenses Italian families must balance. In short, yet another worry has been added to families' shoulders.

Here's the truth about the new tax

Don't worry, our dear Italian citizens, this isn't a tax as such, but rather an expense we all incur without even realizing how much it impacts our finances. When you withdraw cash at a post office with cards from other banks, you pay fees that can be as high as €2.

If withdrawals are repeated over time, the amount to be paid ends up being much larger than you might think. Just consider that five withdrawals in a month translate into a cost of €10, or €120 over the course of an entire year. Money that, without us even realizing, leaves our pockets, impacting family expenses.