Oh what a tangled web they weave in the Crown Dependencies

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive
(Walter Scott)

Two days ago we blogged about how the governments of Her Majesty's Crown Dependencies in Guernsey and Jersey set out to mislead their own populations by claiming they had been removed from a US blacklist of tax havens.

As we pointed out earlier, the original blacklist approach has been replaced in the new Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act by a shift of focus to the financial institutions, mainly banks, that play a key role in encouraging and facilitating tax evasion through tax havens. The act still allows the US government to take measures against foreign jurisdictions, including tax havens like Guernsey and Jersey, but brings the focus on the role of financial intermediaries to the fore.

Claiming to have been removed from a list that no longer applies is tantamount to deception: but who do they aim to deceive?

The Telegraph has picked up on this story.