The B.C. government is dangling a carrot to British Columbians ahead of the June referendum on the HST, suggesting it's willing to "improve" the controversial tax before the vote.

Finance Minister Kevin Falcon says the government will start meeting with the public and interest groups through a series of "listening exercises" to get a better sense of what they want, and if that means changing the terms of the tax, it will.

Falcon was joined by Attorney General Barry Penner, who announced the government will provide half a million dollars to be split equally to fund the 'yes' and 'no' sides of an information campaign, but it won't include government costs to present its side.

Another half a million dollars will fund several public discussions about the tax and the government will spend $700,000 to create a mail-out Voter's Guide that outlines both sides of the debate.

Falcon says the government continues to admit it did a terrible job introducing the tax to British Columbians, and while cabinet still fully supports the tax, it's up to the public to make the final decision.

Critics of the tax leveraged public anger to gather the 500,000 signatures required on a petition to prompt a referendum to repeal the tax, which also ultimately led to the resignation of former premier Gordon Campbell.