Pro-tax Austrian heiress gives away $27 million of inheritance

A pro-tax Austrian heiress has given away $27 million of her inheritance.

An heiress who has denounced the absence of taxes on wealth and inheritance in Austria has given the bulk of her money, 25 million euros ($27 million), to 77 organizations, including social and climate groups, as well as prominent left-wing ones.

Marlene Engelhorn, 32, has spent years criticizing the birth lottery by which she inherited tens of millions and does not have to give any of it to the state, and calling for change.

In January, she said that a panel picked by a pollster as representative of the Austrian public would decide how to distribute the sum, without any intervention on her part. The list of 77 recipients was announced on Tuesday.

“A large part of my inherited wealth, which elevated me to a position of power simply by virtue of my birth, contradicting every democratic principle, has now been redistributed in accordance with democratic values,” Engelhorn said in a statement.

A spokesman said the 25 million euros was “the overwhelming bulk” of her wealth, though she retains an undisclosed sum.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/heiress-gives-away-inheritance-rcna157887

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