Former Arsenal director’s big tax saving

In 2011 Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith sold her 15.9 per cent stake in Arsenal to Stan Kroenke for £116m. She had been the third biggest shareholder in the club.

Her husband is the son of the former Arsenal director Sir Guy Bracewell-Smith who was on the club’s board of directors from 1953 to 1976.   His father, Sir Bracewell Smith, was the club chairman from 1949-62 in the days when grandees rather than wealthy foreigners graced the boards of élite clubs such as Arsenal, its quality eptiomised by the marble halls of Highbury.

In 2011 Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith sold her 15.9 per cent stake in Arsenal to Stan Kroenke for £116m. She had been the third biggest shareholder in the club.

Her husband is the son of the former Arsenal director Sir Guy Bracewell-Smith who was on the club’s board of directors from 1953 to 1976.   His father, Sir Bracewell Smith, was the club chairman from 1949-62 in the days when grandees rather than wealthy foreigners graced the boards of élite clubs such as Arsenal, its quality eptiomised by the marble halls of Highbury.

In 2013 she revealed that she had ‘deep regrets’ over the sale that allowed Kroenke to take control of the club.  She had previously claimed that he did not have the club’s best interests at heart.   She was made an honorary vice-president of the club in 2012.   She lists this on her Twitter account where she describes herself as a ‘philanthropist’.

The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times have been running something of a campaign on what they see as tax avoidance by the super rich.   A court case over payments for financial advice has revealed that she saved £34m in capital gains tax on the sale by moving to Monaco.   More than 2,000 Britons are believed to live in the tiny principality which does, of course, have its own football team in the French Ligue 1.  

According to the court papers, she also considered moving to Dubai for reasons of tax efficiency. Personally, I would give up a slice of my fortune to avoid living in either location.

As a representative for Lady Nina pointed out, anyone has the right to move abroad for a range of reasons.   It could be argued that Britain’s onerous tax regime encourages such moves and a lighter regime might actually yield more revenue.   In part it depends on how far one sees the tax system in punitive or redistributive terms or whether one sees the main objective as maximising yields to reduce Britain’s continuing deficit.