Associated Press: Japan May Hike Consumption Tax:

Japan's ruling party will consider hiking the consumption tax from 5% to between 10% and 15% in an effort to tackle the country's mushrooming public debt -- the highest in the industrial world -- a newspaper reported Monday.

Bloomberg:  Ex-KPMG Executives Plead Innocent to New Tax Shelter Charges:

Sixteen people accused in the sale of illegal tax shelters, including 15 former executives of KMPG LLP, the No. 4 U.S. accounting firm, pleaded innocent to fraud, in what prosecutors say may be the biggest criminal tax case ever.

Ten defendants, including a onetime KPMG finance chief and another man accused in the sale of illegal shelters, were named in an indictment last week that added new allegations and brought to 19 the total number of people charged in the case. Seventeen are former KPMG executives. One is a lawyer accused of writing letters endorsing the shelters. All are charged with engaging in a scheme to deprive the U.S. of $2.5 billion in tax revenue.

Eight former KPMG executives, including a former deputy chairman, and attorney Raymond J. Ruble, a former partner at Chicago-based Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, were indicted in August and pleaded innocent on Sept. 6. All appeared in Manhattan federal court today to enter not guilty pleas to the new indictment, along with seven of the 10 new defendants.

U.S. Newswire:  Professional Tax Resister Irwin Schiff and Two Associates Convicted in Las Vegas Tax Scam:

A federal jury in Las Vegas, Nevada convicted Irwin Schiff and two associates, Cynthia Neun and Lawrence Cohen, of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns filed by other taxpayers in connection with a tax scam, and convicted Schiff and Neun of conspiring to defraud the United States, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Schiff was convicted on all counts, including income tax evasion and of filing false income tax returns for the years 1997 through 2002, and Neun was convicted of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, Social Security disability fraud, and theft of government property in connection with Neun's improper receipt of Social Security disability benefits.

According to the indictment and the evidence introduced at trial, beginning in 1995, the defendants directed thousands of taxpayers to file false federal income tax returns with the IRS that reported zero taxable income in spite of the taxpayers earning large amounts of reportable income. The defendants operated the scam through Freedom Books-a business owned by Schiff-that sold books, tapes, and packets encouraging customers not to pay income tax. According to a government witness who testified at trial, between 1997 and 2002 Freedom Books sold more than $4.2 million in products that promoted Schiff's "anti-tax" scheme.

For other press reports on the Schiff conviction, see:

• BusinessWeek
• CNN
• Forbes
• Las Vegas Sun
• New York Times
• Tax Analysts
• Wall Street Journal