The British Columbia government will introduce changes to the Harmonized Sales Tax tomorrow, three weeks before a mail-in referendum on it is to begin.

"I came into office saying I want to support families, I want to make it a little bit easier for people to get ahead, so I'm hoping that's what people will see in the fixes we bring forward for the HST," said Premier Christy Clark.

An independent panel's review of the HST found the average cost to families of harmonizing the provincial sales tax with the federal goods and service tax was higher than the province had previously said. Possible changes to the tax include reducing it, creating more exemptions from it or extending credits where the government writes people cheques to defray the increased cost of the tax.

"That $350 extra burden on families is one of the things that we are certainly going to be addressing, how much of that you'll have to wait and see," said Clark.

The government has scheduled a press conference with Finance Minister Kevin Falcon for 10 a.m. on Wed., May 25 with reporters barred from reporting the details of the announcement until after 11 a.m.

"The only fix they're concerned with is their political fix," said NDP leader Adrian Dix. "This will be the latest position by the new premier on the HST. Her position has changed a myriad times and I don't think anyone really believes this is anything more than a cynical effort to buy votes with public funds."

The government created the problem when it misled voters on the HST and should repeal the tax, he said.

Dix also questioned the independent panel's figure for how much expense the HST adds. "It clearly costs much more per family than $350," he said.

An initiative petition forced a province wide vote on whether to extinguish the HST and return to the PST and GST. Ballots are to be mailed out starting June 13 and voting will close on July 22.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.