A German heiress said she was “upset” that she would inherit billions of dollars from her grandparents and said she wanted almost all of her inheritance to be taxed.
Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto died in September at the age of 94, leaving her granddaughter and heiress Marlene Engelhorn a tax-free inheritance worth billions.
However, the 30-year-old, who now lives in Austria, said she has no interest in inheriting the windfall that came from the family’s chemical company.
“The dream scenario is that I’ll be taxed,” Ms. Engelhorn told the New York Times.
Ms. Engelhorn has pledged to give away 90 percent of her inheritance and wants the tax to go to the state for redistribution.
Ms. Engelhorn also spoke to Vice News last year, telling them, “Nobody should have that much tax-free money and power.”
Knowing that she would one day inherit the fortune, Ms Engelhorn has spent the last decade campaigning for tax policies that would heavily tax her wealth and redistribute it from the government.
Ms. Engelhorn is co-founder of Tax Me Now, a group of wealthy people in Germany campaigning for higher taxes on their income.
Ms Engelhorn told the New York Times that many people have reached out to her for financial help after reading about her campaign or seeing it on TV. She said it hurts her to say no because she believes it should be up to the state to decide how to redistribute her wealth through taxes, rather than her choice.
“I am the product of an unequal society,” said Ms. Engelhorn in her speech for the “Millionaires for Humanity” campaign in Amsterdam in August this year. “Otherwise I could not be born into millions. just born Nothing else.’
“The wealth of the so-called top 1% is not just a big number, it directly translates into power over politics, business, media and society,” she added. “This power is disproportionate: in a democratic society, solidarity concerns us all. The distribution of wealth goes to the heart of democracy.’
Marlene Engelhorn, 30, campaigns for higher taxes for the rich during a Millionaires for Humanity event in Amsterdam in August 2022.
Austria, where Ms Engelhorn lives, completely abolished its inheritance tax law in 2008.
Ms Engelhorn wants this to be reintroduced with higher taxes for the wealthy. She argues that it is unfair for wealthy people not to contribute to society in this way.
“I was born into a rich family and will one day inherit a fortune that I never had to work for,” Ms. Engelhorn said in a video posted to Millionaires for Humanity’s Facebook in May 2021.
“Millionaires should not be able to decide whether they are making a fair contribution to the societies in which they live and without which they would never have become millionaires.
Social justice is in everyone’s interest. Wealth taxes are the least we can do to take responsibility. Tax us.’
In a video posted to her Facebook account by Millionaires for Humanity in May 2021, Marlene Engelhorn said, “Wealth taxes are the least we can do to take responsibility.”
Mrs. Engelhorn grew up in a mansion in Vienna. She told the New York Times that she attended French-language schools and was the type of student who corrected other people’s grammatical mistakes. She said she spent her childhood reading and playing soccer with boys.
She also said she always wondered why her friends lived in small apartments instead of choosing to live in a big house with a yard like she did.
“Privilege really gives you a very, very narrow view of the world,” she told the New York Times.
Ms. Engelhorn’s unexpected inheritance comes from her family’s centuries-old chemical company. Friedrich Engelhorn founded BASF in 1865. The family also owned Boehringer Mannheim, which manufactured pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostic equipment until it was sold for $11 million in 1997.
Forbes put the family fortune at a staggering $4.2 billion.
Despite their wealth, the Engelhorn family gave generously to various philanthropic causes. The Engelhorn family has funded the work of young scientists, archeology centers and music programs.
The exact number Mrs. Engelhorn will inherit is not known, as the inheritance may be divided among other family members.