EMPLOYEES who drive to work should pay the Government's proposed workplace parking tax and not their employer, according to a new survey by international law firm Cameron McKenna. A survey of almost 300 companies in the property sector revealed that 48% of respondents believed employees should be taxed and pay for workplace parking with just 32% believing the tenant or employer should pay.

Meanwhile, according to the 'Cameron McKenna Property Survey 1998' published this week in response to the Government's summer transport white paper called 'A New Deal for Transport - Better for Everyone' 73% of respondents agreed that road taxes should be levied only to reduce existing congestion or prevent future congestion.

Other results of the survey revealed that 80% of respondents felt that the present level of Government subsidies for public transport from central taxes were too low, 28% believed that bus services should be improved to reduce the amount of private vehicle use in towns and cities, and 57% agreed that the Government should subsidise public transport from existing tax revenues to increase the attraction of other types of transport when compared with roads.

'This Government claims to champion modernisation and reform. Our survey shows that many leading industry voices consider that there is little evidence of this in the white paper,' said Charles Romany, head of Cameron McKenna's Property group. 'An integrated transport system must be more than a Utopian dream for some future generation; it is a pressing need today and we are already some way behind many continental European countries.'