April 19, 2002

US Probation Department recommends no prison time for A Alfred Taubman, 78-year-old principal owner of Sotheby's convicted for fixing commission prices; Justice Department prosecutors object strongly, telling Judge George B Daniels that Taubman deserves maximum three-year term and fine of up to $8 million for six-year antitrust conspiracy with Christie's; defense offers 90 testimonial letters, many from famous people such as Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger (M)

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's blacklist of tax havens includes Liechtenstein despite country's revamping of its banking rules to allow secrecy to be waived for criminal investigations; Gerlinde Manz-Christ, spokeswoman for prime minister, calls OECD's decision unfair; says organization wants Liechtenstein to unconditionally give up its banking secrecy, which is part of umbrella of personal privacy; says Switzerland is not on list because it is member of OECD; others listed as tax havens include Andorra, Liberia, Monaco, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Vanuatu (M)

Royal Dutch/Shell Group will proceed with its planned 3.5 billion pound ($5 billion) acquisition of Enterprise Oil despite new 10 percent tax levied against oil and gas profits from North Sea region; tax is part of British budget prepared by Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown (S)

Census of the Sept. 11 Dead The New York City Health Department released a detailed demographic profile of the World Trade Center victims. PAGE A14 Afghan Homecoming Afghans greeted their former king, Mohammad Zahir Shah, who returned home after nearly 30 years in exile in Italy. PAGE A15

Floyd Norris comment on how 2002 may be bad tax year for Federal government; says federal budget deficit for March was significantly higher than expected, because of lower tax collections; Goldman Sachs economist John Youngdahl notes that through April 17, US Treasury received $33.4 billion this month from individual income-tax payers, off 31 percent from year ago; Norris says stock market boom may have created tax boom that will never be seen again; adds if so, budget deficits will be bigger than anyone expected, and so will government borrowing; graph (M)