The Austro-German heiress Marlene Engelhorn she decided to donate much of the property she inherited from her grandmother.

The 31-year-old lives in Vienna and will create a group of 50 Austrians to determine how to redistribute the 25 million euros of her inheritance.

“I’ve inherited a fortune, and therefore power, without having done anything about it,” he said, adding: “the state doesn’t even put taxes on it.”

Austria abolished inheritance tax in 2008, one of the few European countries that does not impose an inheritance tax – or duties, and Engelhorn believes this is unfair.

Who is the 31-year-old “golden” heiress?

The 31-year-old is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, the founder of German chemical and pharmaceutical company BASF, and inherited millions when her grandmother died in September 2022.

Traudl Engelhorn-Vechiatto’s fortune was calculated by the American magazine Forbes at 4.2 billion dollars (3.3 billion pounds, 3.8 billion euros) and even before she died, her granddaughter had indicated that she wanted to divide about 90% of her inheritance.

Yesterday Wednesday, 10,000 invitations targeting randomly selected Austrian citizens started arriving in mailboxes in Austria.

Those wishing to take part in Engelhorn’s initiative, known as the “Good Council for Redistribution,” can sign up online or by phone. From this initial sample of 10,000 Austrians who are all over the age of 16, 50 people will be selected, with 15 alternate members also selected in case someone leaves their seat.

“If politicians don’t do their job and redistribute, then I have to redistribute my wealth myself,” she explained to the BBC.

“Employees forced to pay taxes on every euro they earn”

“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 policy failure, and if the policy fails, then the citizens have to deal with it themselves.”

Christoph Hofinger, CEO of the Foresight Institute which supports the initiative, said the council to redistribute the heir money would consist of 50 people “from all age groups, federal states, social classes and backgrounds”.

The team will be asked to “contributes its ideas in order to jointly develop solutions in the interest of society as a whole”he said.

They will take part in a series of meetings held in Salzburg with academics and civil society organizations from March to June this year. Travel expenses will be covered and participants will receive €1,200 for each weekend they attend.

Marlene Engelhorn thinks their discussions will be a “service to democracy” and that’s why they should be compensated suitable for this.

“I have no right of veto,” he said. “I put my assets at the disposal of these 50 people and I trust them”.

If they can’t come to a “widely supported” decision on what to do with the money, then the money goes back to Engelhorn.

“I just happened to be born into this family”

It is not clear exactly what percentage of her inheritance is being awarded, although in 2021 she said that she wanted to share at least 90% of it because she had done nothing to earn it. “I just happened to be born into this family,” she said.