413
submitted 10 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

Marlene Engelhorn says that when she inherited her grandmother's multimillion-dollar fortune in 2022, she "wanted to be happy about it."

"And I couldn't be," the Austrian heiress told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "I was angry instead … because I knew it was really unfair, and there was no reason for me to get this that I could really justify."

Engelhorn has long campaigned for greater taxes on the wealthy in Austria, including an inheritance tax. But since the government won't redistribute her wealth for her, she says she's asking the people do it.

Engelhorn is giving €25 million ($36.5 million Cdn) — which she says is the vast majority of her inheritance — to a committee of Austrian residents tasked with using it to fight wealth inequality.

"I am only wealthy because I was born in a rich family. And I think in a democratic society of the 21st century, birth should not be the one thing that determines whether or not you're gonna get to lead a very good life," Engelhorn said.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Chozo@kbin.social 44 points 10 months ago

Well, not for long. Soon she'll just be another good broke person.

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 41 points 10 months ago

Well, she says 25 million Euros is the "vast majority" of her inheritance. She might have 2-3 million left, leaving her technically still a multimillionaire.

[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 15 points 10 months ago

Hopefully she can remain as principled as she is now and use it as a platform for change. Still though, better than pretty much any I've ever heard.

this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
413 points (98.6% liked)

World News

39019 readers
2315 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS