1 of 2 Marlene Engelhorn made it clear before inheriting millions that she wanted to donate most of it — Photo: HANNA FASCHING Even before inheriting millions, Marlene Engelhorn made it clear that she wanted to donate most of it — Photo: HANNA FASCHING
An AustrianGerman heiress brings a group of citizens together to decide how to donate much of the fortune she inherited from her grandmother.
Marlene Engelhorn, who is 31 and lives in Vienna, wants 50 Austrians to decide how to redistribute the 25 million euros (R133 million) of their inheritance.
“I inherited a fortune and therefore power without having done anything for it,” she said. “And the state doesn’t even want taxes on it.”
Austria abolished inheritance tax in 2008 and was one of the few European countries that does not levy inheritance tax.
Engelhorn believes this is an injustice.
She is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of the German chemical and pharmaceutical company BASF, and inherited millions when her grandmother died in September 2022.
Traudl EngelhornVechiatto's fortune was estimated by the American magazine Forbes at US$4.2 billion (R$20.4 billion). Even before her grandmother's death, the granddaughter had declared that she wanted to donate around 90% of the inheritance.
Last Wednesday (October 1st), 10,000 invitations were sent by post in Austria to randomly selected Austrian citizens.
Anyone who would like to take part in Engelhorn's initiative can register online or by telephone.
Among the 10,000 Austrians (all over 16 years old), 50 will be selected to serve on a council that will decide the decision, in addition to 15 replacement members in the event of a withdrawal.
“If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute income, then I have to redistribute my wealth myself,” she said in her statement.
“Many people struggle to survive with a job and to pay tax on every euro they earn through work. I see this as a failure of politics, and if politics fails, the citizens themselves have to deal with it.”
2 of 2 In May 2022, Marlene Engelhorn joined other millionaires in Davos to call for higher taxation of the rich Photo: PHIL WHITE In May 2022, Marlene Engelhorn joined other millionaires in Davos to call for higher taxation of the rich Photo: PHIL WEISS
Christoph Hofinger, executive director of the Foresight Institute, which supports the initiative, said the board to redistribute the heiress' money will consist of 50 people “from all ages, states, social classes and backgrounds.”
The group is invited to “contribute their ideas in order to jointly develop solutions in the interest of society as a whole,” he said.
They will take part in a series of meetings that will take place in Salzburg from March to June this year with scientists and civil society organizations.
Organizers say the meetings will be accessible and child care and interpreters will be available if needed. Travel costs are covered and participants receive 1,200 euros for each weekend of participation.
Marlene Engelhorn believes that the discussions will be a “service to democracy” and that participants should be adequately compensated for this.
“I have no veto power,” she said. “I make my assets available to these 50 people and give them my trust.”
If it is not possible to make a “broadbased” decision about what to do with the money, the money will go back to Engelhorn.
It is unclear exactly what portion of the inheritance will be given away, although she said in 2021 that she wanted to distribute at least 90% of the total since she did nothing to earn the money and simply got lucky in the “birth lottery.”
Her team has not confirmed how much money she will keep for herself, although they have said she will keep some for financial security.
Sixteen years after the abolition of inheritance tax in Austria, the issue is still controversial and opposition Social Democrats have called for the inheritance tax to be reintroduced.
The leader of the Social Democrats Andreas Babler told public broadcaster ORF that he wanted to see this as a key condition for possible coalition talks after the next federal election in Austria, which is scheduled for the end of this year.
The conservative People's Party, currently the main partner of the Austrian coalition government, rejected the proposal.
The party's general secretary, Christian Stocker, said that Babler wanted to “put even further burdens on the people in our country with his demand for a wealth and inheritance tax,” but the SVP was relieving them. We reject new taxes; in the end, people should receive more net income.”