Facing another day of questions about her post-election tax plans, Liberal Leader Christy Clark tried to reassure voters Thursday by taking credit for scrapping her party's Harmonized Sales Tax.

Recent comments from Clark about making changes to keep B.C.'s tax system "competitive" have raised concerns from some that she would consider implementing a new form of value-added tax, a major reform business leaders in the province have lobbied for.

Clark has repeatedly denied that possibility, but was asked why voters should trust her given the way the Liberals introduced the HST shortly after being elected in in 2009.

"I killed the HST," Clark said before dialing back the assertion. "After voters killed it, I made sure it stayed dead."

The HST was put to a referendum because of a petition campaign that managed to collect signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in each of B.C.'s 85 ridings. Then-premier Gordon Campbell, facing widespread public outrage over the tax, voluntarily promised to make the referendum results binding.

Asked on Thursday whether she supported the HST in the vote, Clark initially said she couldn't recall.

"I can't remember. I think I probably – I probably voted for it in the referendum. I did, I voted for it," Clark said.

"Leaders can't do just what they think should happen. That's not the right kind of leadership. Leaders need to listen to people."

The questions were posed during a news conference where Clark hammered the Green and NDP parties for their respective tax plans. Both NDP Leader John Horgan and Green Leader Andrew Weaver have pledged to increase the carbon tax by different degrees, and to hike taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

Weaver has also said his party would consider the possibility of mobility pricing for drivers.

"Today's B.C. Liberals are the only party that won't raise taxes if we're elected," Clark said.

She also accused Horgan of planning to "bring in new taxes through the back door" to pay for his party's promises, including a pledge to scrap Medical Services Plan premiums within four years.

Interestingly, that was the same line of attack Horgan used against Clark at his own news conference Thursday.

MSP premiums have doubled since the Liberals took power in 2001 and hydro bills increased by 87 per cent over the same period, Horgan said.

"Just on Christy Clark's watch, hydro bills have gone up $419 just for regular people," he said. "These are hidden taxes that the B.C. Liberals don't want people to know about."

The war of words coincided with the release of a new Angus Reid poll that suggests a majority of B.C. voters would actually like to see taxes increased to support social programs, albeit only if the wealthy are the ones paying more, and only if the budget can still be balanced.

Sixty-six per cent of respondents said they would like to see the government take that approach, compared to just 27 per cent that said they'd like to see the province spend the same amount or less in order to balance the books.

The remaining seven per cent supported running a deficit to pay for new programs.

Respondents were split roughly down the middle on whether MSP should eliminated over the next four years or halved, as the Liberals have proposed.

The Angus Reid Institute survey was conducted online from April 28 to May 3 among 1,007 B.C. adults. Polls of that size have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.