THE NEW YORK TIMES About 10,000 in the coming days Austrian will find in their mailboxes an invitation from an heiress asking for help in spending 25 million euros, or about $27.4 million, of their inheritance.
This is not a coup or a move. marketing intelligent. Instead, the heiress, Marlene Engelhornsaid it was an attempt to challenge a system that allowed her to amass millions of euros.
Engelhorn, 31, grew up in Vienna and has been advocating for years for a tax policy that redistributes inherited assets and addresses Structural economic inequality.
Without these tax laws, the public is left to decide how to spend their money.
Marlene Engelhorn attends a Millionaires for Humanity event where activists demand higher taxes for the superrich. Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin/The New York Times
The 10,000 Austrians who will receive invitations will be reduced to 50, with the aim of reflecting the country's population based on demographic characteristics such as gender, age and income. The group called Good adviceThe “Good Council” is meeting in Salzburg on six weekends this year to discuss how the money should best be spent.
“A good plan needs many perspectives,” Engelhorn said in a statement on the project’s website. “Not just from one person who happened to inherit it. Just because I want to improve the state of our society doesn’t mean I have a good plan.”
The Engelhorn legacy goes back to Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded it Basfone of the largest chemical companies in the world, in 1865. His family also owned Boehringer Mannheim, a pharmaceutical company and medical diagnostic equipment until it was sold for $11 billion in 1997.
Prior to the announcement of the Good Advice project on Tuesday the 9th, Engelhorn had publicly committed to donating at least 90% of his multimillion dollar inheritance. She is part of a small movement of superrich people who not only want to redistribute their money, but also challenge the structures that allowed them to inherit their wealth. Austria abolished its inheritance tax in 2008.
It is unclear what percentage of the inheritance Engelhorn allocated to the project, whose full name is “Good Council for Redistribution.” Bernhard Madlener, spokesman for the project, said in an email that it was an “overwhelming majority.”
On Tuesday 9th, the project sent invitations by post to 10,000 people in Austria, randomly selected from a national database.
Participants must be at least 16 years old, but do not have to have Austrian citizenship or speak German.
The group will meet from March to June for expertmoderated discussions and hear from experts on topics such as wealth distribution and the way NGOs are funded. In the event that someone is unable to attend, 15 replacement members will be selected.
Marlene Engelhorn is an heiress who is not only committed to reducing inequality, but also to changing the system that has allowed some people to accumulate such wealth. Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin/The New York Times
Good Council members receive €1,200, or about $1,300, per weekend. Hotel, food and travel costs are covered, as are costs for dealing with issues that could prevent people from participating, such as childcare and interpreters. Members remain anonymous unless they choose to speak publicly.
According to the project website, there are limits to how the funds can be used. Money cannot go to groups or individuals that are “unconstitutional, hostile or inhumane,” and cannot be invested in forprofit institutions. Money also cannot be redistributed to group members or “related parties.”
If the group doesn't find a broadbased way to distribute the money, it will be returned to the heiress.
The unusual project deviates from the methods some superrich people use to give away their money, such as setting up foundations for causes they support or donating to existing groups. Engelhorn said these paths still give the rich power they don't deserve.
In Engelhorn's statement about the project, she said that monetary donations “do not solve the problem of political failure” and that it “gives me power that I shouldn't have.”
“Redistricting has to be a process that goes beyond me,” she said.
Once Good Advice is established, Engelhorn will withdraw from the project and relinquish all decisionmaking authority, according to the project's website.
“Of course, it reserves the right to continue to comment on the issues of distribution and redistribution of wealth, but it has no right of veto or similar rights in relation to the results of the Council discussion and the 25 million euros,” the website says. “The council decides.”
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