Born in 1992 in Austria, Marlene Engelhorn comes from a wealthy family in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry who founded the BASF company. When she learned that she was going to receive a large inheritance, she founded the Tax me now initiative with other privileged people. In 2024, she makes her fortune of 25 million euros available and creates a citizens’ council so that it can decide on the distribution of this sum to fight against inequalities. Last June, this council decided to distribute this inheritance between 77 organizations with sums ranging from 40,000 to 1.6 million euros2. In the book Moneypublished last September, Marlene Engelhorn advocates “anti-rich” taxation. Interview
You have decided to donate 25 million euros, a large part of your inheritance. How did this choice come about for you?
Marlene Engelhorn: In a democracy, birth should not be the factor that determines people’s future. When I was told about my inheritance, I knew it was unfair. Unfair that a person becomes a multi-millionaire in this way and can use the power of their wealth to make choices that will affect society. I wanted to put a stop to this dynamic.
So I started by redistributing this amount to organizations fighting for social justice, anti-racism, anti-speciesism or for the climate. But I kept in mind that choosing yourself to whom to redistribute was to keep power. It meant making the best choices for the world in place of others.
Ultimately, 77 organizations received part of your legacy. How did you decide where these donations would go?
I had no executive power over this choice. I decided to create a citizens’ assembly to decide on this. It was made up of 50 people chosen according to criteria representative of Austrian society. The money was in an account that I had no control over.
The first two weekends of discussions were devoted to information on the distribution of heritage, and how to find solutions. The assembly was then divided into six reflection groups on areas of our collective life influenced by heritage: climate, inequalities, education… Finally, the citizens’ assembly decided on the 77 beneficiary organizations and the amounts that each would receive. (among these organizations are Attac, Reporters Without Borders, associations helping the homeless, editor’s note).
You refuse the principle of philanthropic foundations, which a certain number of great fortunes have adopted. What do you criticize in philanthropy?
In principle, philanthropy can be beneficial. But when Amazon or British Petroleum foundations distribute money to a climate cause, it’s just ridiculous. It is a lever for the super rich to improve their image. And if we look at how much they give in proportion to what they have, it’s nothing at all.
For these people, philanthropy is a way to establish their power by funding only projects in their interest. Certain sectors, such as scientific research, have become partly dependent on it in certain countries.
Beyond the gift of your inheritance, you are campaigning for greater taxation of wealth and assets. For what?
Governments are getting more and more into debt and the ultra-rich no longer know what to do with their billions. We need examples of people who redistribute their wealth. We must show that it is possible, that systems work to do it.
“Governments are getting more and more into debt and the ultra-rich no longer know what to do with their billions” Marlene Engelhorn
To implement these impositions, should we go beyond national levels and put pressure on European institutions?
These laws are primarily made at the national level. An international tax seems illusory to me. At the European level, however, the tax systems are very different, but we share the euro. We could try to find a consensus around taxes to avoid tax competition between states. Spain and Norway are very good examples for the taxation of big fortunes (the Norwegian government has increased taxes on the richest since 2021, Spain has implemented an exceptional tax on the wealthy in 2022, editor’s note).
Do you hope to launch an activist movement among wealthy heirs and heiresses through your Tax me now initiative for tax justice?
More and more young heirs are trying to change mentalities in their families, like Abigail Disney, with whom I work on the initiative Tax me now. Others are not looking for publicity, but I would like these big names to take a public stand.
Some business leaders are also realizing that things need to change. Sebastian Klein, a startup founder who became a multimillionaire overnight, redistributed 90% of his wealth because he simply considered himself lucky. These people realize that redistribution through taxation of their wealth serves social cohesion and the democratic contract.
You write in your book Money that it is important to be able to define excessive wealth. How ? At what point do you become excessively rich?
It is a wealth that one does not need to have a comfortable life, but which becomes an instrument of power. Some ultra-rich people aren’t interested in politics at all because politics usually sets the rules in their favor. Others are very active and use their money to influence society. They pay think tanks that influence the public debate on economic policy. This should be resolved because it is a disproportionate influence which is directly linked to heritage.
You also criticize the “myth of the self-made man”. For what ?
Let’s take Friedrich Engelhorn, the ancestor I inherit. Did he found his business, (the chemical company BASF, editor’s note) all alone ? No, he needed chemists, and a wife to take care of his eleven children. These people did much of the work without which his wealth could not have been accumulated. All this work, although essential, is made invisible by this myth of the “self-made man”.
This myth also serves to say “I am exceptional, so I should not give anything back”. But no one came into the world with a tie and a managerial mindset. We were educated. And who pays for that? The State through taxes. We are dependent on public services, we must give something back to public services.
You say you want to get out of your “rich dynasty”. Why define the environment you come from in this way?
The richest 1% have access to resources that a majority of the population does not have: great schools, high salaries, etc. This is a very exclusive group, holding a lot of power and influence. To justify these privileges, they convince themselves of being more competent than the majority and of being able to make the best decisions for society, while being isolated from public life.
True feudal thinking pushes this new aristocracy to reject any position where they do not have total power. Yet that is democracy: creating a system in which everyone is subject to a power that decides what is in the interest of the majority, while protecting minorities. The 99% of the population are much more structurally democratic, because they pay their taxes, work and are an integral part of society.
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