Austrian pro-tax heiress gives wealth to social, climate, left-wing groups

FILE PHOTO: Marlene Engelhorn poses for portraits for Reuters in Vienna, Austria, March 6, 2024. REUTERS/Lisa Leutner

VIENNA (Reuters) - An heiress who has denounced the absence of taxes on wealth and inheritance in Austria has given the bulk of her money, 25 million euros ($27 million), to 77 organisations, including social and climate groups, as well as prominent left-wing ones.

Marlene Engelhorn, 32, has spent years criticising the birth lottery by which she inherited tens of millions and does not have to give any of it to the state, and calling for change.