Money was never missing from her Marilyn Engelhorn. Having graduated from the Lycée Français de Vienne, a fine private school of the Viennese bourgeoisie, he enrolled at the University of the Austrian capital to study German Language and Literature. Then, at the age of 18-19 he was hanging out “only with normal people” as she says, she was informed that her family is not just well-to-do but wealthy. And that she herself is included among her heirs Traunde Engelhorn-De Vechiatodescendant of the German businessman who founded the colossal chemical company BASF.
Before he even realizes that the “grandmother Traunde” he had personal wealth which, according to “Forbes”, reached 3.8 billion eurosthe young Marlene had been active in activist movements in favor of taxing the super-rich and redistributing their wealth. The realization that she herself would one day become one of the targets she was fighting against did not affect her struggle. He announced that he would ask the Austrian state to tax the property he would inherit at a rate of 90%.
And if that didn’t happen, she would see to it herself that she distributed nine-tenths of the inheritance to 70 organizations for the fight against poverty and other charitable institutions. He had even participated in the founding of the “Tax me now” organization, a German lobby that pushes for the taxation of great wealth and has a militant presence at the Davos Forum, which gathers every January the cream of the crop of representatives of big capital internationally.
She chose 50 of her fellow citizens from 16 to 85 years of age from all social groups to co-decide to which institutions, unions and social organizations the money should be allocated.
Deeds, not words
Traunde Engelhorn-De Vechiato died in 2022. The time had come for Marlin to move from theory to practice. And it is remarkable that he did so, for two reasons. First, because the share left to her in the will by her wealthy grandmother was only 25 million euros. Secondly, because Marlene herself was only 30 years old – born in 1992. What thirtysomething who made a living working as a proofreader in a publishing company would be enough for two and a half million when she could be 25 and solve the financial problem not only hers her but also her children and grandchildren?
Eh, h Marilyn Engelhorn has spent two years now from words to deedswith an organized plan and method. First she called on the Austrian government to tax her, but that was impossible because since 2008 inheritance tax has been abolished in the country – co-rulers Right and Greens refuse to bring back inheritance taxonly the opposition Socialist Party is in favor.
“I have gained a fortune, and thus power, without having done anything for it. I was lucky enough to win a lottery with my birth. And the state doesn’t want to tax me. If politicians fail to do their job, if they refuse to do the job of redistribution, then citizens will have to act themselves.” said the idealistic Marlene.
Teutonic Methodism
Forthwith put plan B into actioninviting 10,000 Austrian citizens with letters to give suggestions and ideas on where the heiress should donate the 22.5 million euros left over to her. From the proposals she received, she selected 50 of her fellow citizens from 16 to 85 years of age from all social groups and the nine federal states of Austria, and also 15 alternates in case some of the chosen ones ended up not responding – we said, the heiress is methodical. And in the period from March to June of the current year the team had intensive consultations to find solutions to the 22.5 million disposal “problem”. Driven solutions “the interests of society as a whole”as Marilyn herself had pointed out.
The meetings organized in Salzburg, in which Marilyn participated equally without any right of veto, were also attended by academics and representatives of social organizations who had also been invited by the heiress. It should be noted that each of the participants received a check for 1,200 euros for the travel expenses. In the end Marlin’s team selected 77 institutions, associations and social organizations, where they distributed amounts ranging from 40,000 euros (to a statistical studies initiative on the climate crisis) to 1.6 million euros (to the Austrian Federation for Nature Conservation).
Croisan activism is “fashionable”.
For years, famous billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett“return part of their wealth back to society”, as they typically state. Not so much through one-time charitable donations (which the rich have always been used to), but through funding institutions and foundations to fight global poverty and epidemics. In the last 40 years, moreover, the explosion of the world population combined with the large concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer people have created conditions of unprecedented income inequality on the planet, and there are not a few who warn of the risk of social explosions and violent upheavals.
It may be that the social activism of the cross has become a fashion to some extent, but experts believe that without central coordination for the redistribution of wealth there will be no substantial result. The Paris School of Economics recently estimated that the effective rate of direct taxes borne by the world’s approximately 2,700 billionaires ranges from 0% to 0.5%. And yet, if the super-rich were taxed at a rate of 2% not on their wealth but on their annual incomes, they would raise about $250 billion a year. Amount “enough to eradicate absolute poverty, reduce income inequality and better address the climate crisis”as the Tax Observatory of the European Union concluded months ago in its research.
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