A study in the UK found that a majority of those polled, 61%, had committed petty offences against the government or the workplace. For instance, over a third had paid cash in order to avoid VAT(GST) and nearly one fifth had appropriated stationary from work.

One of the reasons politicians constantly bang on about crime is because stiffer sentencing is so popular. Often irrationally so. When fines for everyday infringements become so expensive as to be unaffordable, then sentencing has moved into the absurd. For instance $700 AUD or $1,000 USD for speeding fines.

Yet studies, like the one from Keele University, seem to be at odds with that graph. I think it is safe to say when people are asked if criminals should get stiffer sentences they are thinking murderers, not the cash in hand economy.

There are other issues too, for instance, the cost of regulation with VAT, GST and sales tax is pretty high for someone who wants to get something done for a few hundred dollars. It is easier from everyone's point of view to pay cash and avoid the additional costs of government regulation.

As to the stationary; many employees, rightly or wrongly, feel under-appreciated and small items become a sense of entitlement. They are small enough that it won't be noticed, and universal enough a practice, that it will most likely not be punished as a crime or a fireable offence.

Some of the other ones were similar to avoiding government red-tape and regulation; such as eleven percent not paying their TV license. I suspect many doing that may have read Thoreau's Civil Disobedience . A TV license must be the stupidest tax on the planet.