Austrian-German philanthropist Marlene Engelhorn inherited 25 million euros of inheritance money from her grandmother. Instead of keeping it, she is forming up a citizens council to decide how that inheritance should be redistributed.
The 31-year-old from Vienna has long campaigned for a just and equitable tax system in Austria.
“I have 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 is one of the few European countries that does not have inheritance tax, which Engelhorn believes is unjust.
She inherited her wealth as a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of German chemical and pharmaceutical company, BASF.
Her grandmother died in September 2022, with an estimated total wealth of $4.2 billion and reportedly telling Marlene Engelhorn that she wanted to give away 90 per cent of the inheritance.
The Council, named “Guter Rat für Rückverteilung”, means ‘good advice for redistribution’. They will meet for six weekends from March until June.
Marlene Engelhorn will not have any influence on the distribution.
The 25 million giveaway has echoes of the Wealth Shared project in Liverpool, founded by economics writer David Clarke. He inherited a sum of money after the death of his mother, but realised he didn’t need the money. After donating to causes he felt passionate about, he has left £100,000 to a group of strangers to decide how to redistribute the money.
Shafi Musaddique is news editor at Alliance magazine.
Comments (1)
Establish a bunch of Food, community, self reliance, towns like villages used to be before the industrial revolution. Decentralized control giving all residents a stake in the success of their AgTown. Invite the craftsmen and trades in by offering the space, infrastructure and the clients. Invite in micro-hydro specialists to install and operate the village grid. Zero cost energy. Abundant water. Solar, geothermal, and all manner of pure clean power generation that will produce excess for our neighboring towns as they transition to an AgTown. Invite the farmers, ranchers and gardeners in to tend the animals. Build a meat processing plant, vegetable production facility and offer our goods in the village store. Villagers pay zero. Outside sales enrich the village. Don't know how it will be structured as far as dispute resolutions... These AgTowns will set the bar for real rural living... not just existing.