This heiress wanted her fortune taxed, then gave it away

Christmas is the season of giving. Businesses and politicians spread cheer in the community and also emblazon their names in the public consciousness. Pure motives or not, generosity is welcome, but old-style philanthropy, with strings attached or donations that ill fit the recipients, are passé.

Enter Marlene Engelhorn, 32, the Austrian-German great-great-great-granddaughter of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of the chemical and pharmaceutical behemoth BASF. In 2022, when her grandmother Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto passed away, leaving behind a fortune of more than 3.8 billion euros, Marlene received a share of 25 million, and this year, she gave away 90 percent of it.

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Rather than putting her name on a foundation, Marlene convened a Council of Redistribution, which sent letters to 10,000 Austrian citizens, from whom 50 were chosen to suggest ideas on how to benefit society. This year, these citizens from diverse ages, backgrounds, states met with academics and civil society every weekend for three months in Salzburg, with free travel and accommodation, plus a modest per diem. They finally earmarked funds for 77 national and global charity groups, which were promptly given. Marlene waived any final say on any beneficiary.

The reason why Marlene gave up almost all her inheritance is simple, “I never worked for it,” she told media in 2022, after her grandmother’s demise. “I inherited a fortune, and therefore power, without having done anything for it,” she reiterated this year, after lamenting the fact that the Austrian government “did not even want taxes on it.” Austria abolished inheritance tax in 2008.

Marlene wanted her windfall to be taxed at 90 percent, but because this was not possible, she decided to give it away instead—to where it will really make a difference, hence the citizens’ group.

“If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute, then I have to redistribute my wealth myself,” she told media in 2024. “Many people struggle to make ends meet with a full-time job, and pay taxes on every euro they earn from work. I see this as a failure of politics, and if politics fails, then the citizens have to deal with it themselves.”

In 2021, Marlene founded the group Tax Me Now in Germany to lobby for more taxes for the rich. This year, more than 200 high-net-worth individuals joined the effort and demonstrated at Davos, asking to be taxed more, including Abigail Disney, Valerie Rockefeller, Morris Pearl of BlackRock and actor Brian Cox of the HBO series “Succession.”

Of course, it is easier to call for more taxes if these truly serve the people. Where corruption is rife and funds pocketed by the unscrupulous, the case is not as clear-cut. But whatever the tax rates, businesses need to rethink how they implement their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

“Marlene leads the vanguard of a new philanthropy, focused less on ‘giving back’ and more on the conviction that we, the extremely privileged, must also be willing to give something up,” Darren Walker, the president of Ford Foundation, tells Time Magazine. “In this way, we can strengthen the democratic capitalism that created both excess wealth and philanthropy in the first place. As such, Marlene embodies an audacious new archetype—and a righteous call for philanthropy in service of justice, not merely generosity.”

Across the ocean in Mississippi, Aisha Nyadoro asked Black families what they truly needed, and after listening to them, she founded Magnolia Mother’s Trust. Black mothers residing in affordable housing are given a monthly fund of $1,000 for a year (no questions asked), together with a college savings accounts for each child.

“Give money to mothers in need and trust them with how to use it,” says Laurene Powell Jobs, married to the late Apple founder, in Time. “The results have been life-altering—more than 400 women and their families have felt the lasting impact on their finances, parenting, health and education.”

Have a grace-filled Christmas.

Queena N. Lee-Chua is on the board of directors of Ateneo’s Family Business Center. Get her book “All in the Family Business” at Lazada or Shopee, or e-book at Amazon, Google Play, Apple iBooks. Contact the author at [email protected].