News Features collects every news story on my BC Assessment appeal work, and everywhere each one was republished, so you can read the coverage for yourself.
Where has the Youbou appeal story been covered?
Since February 2023, the Youbou appeals and the homeowners behind them have been covered by the Times Colonist, Today in BC, the Cowichan Valley Citizen, the Lake Cowichan Gazette, Victoria News and community papers across British Columbia. Many of those stories were republished province wide, from Victoria to Prince Rupert and the Kootenays.
The coverage tells the story as it happened: waterfront owners appealing in 2023, the Appeal Board results in 2024, the fight over records in 2025 and the letter to the Premier and the Sidney appeal in 2026. Every story below links to the original article and to each outlet that ran it.
original news articles
republications by other outlets
different news outlets across BC
years of continuous coverage
The full record
Every article, and everywhere it ran
Each entry is an original article. Open one to see every outlet that republished it, with a link to each version.
No coverage matches that search.
Who is really here to help
The stories are public. Your assessment is personal.
Behind every story is a homeowner who checked their value and proved it was wrong. Every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction, and every result is on my BC Assessment Appeal Record. If you want me in your corner, here is how I can help with your appeal.
BC Assessment Check
A 1 hour one on one call where I go through the sold comparables in your neighbourhood with you and I tell you plainly whether you have an appeal.
Book a BC Assessment CheckProperty record cards
My free step by step guide to getting the record BC Assessment keeps on your home, including the internal notes most homeowners never knew existed.
Get Your Property Record CardDIY Appeal Kits
The same templates and steps behind my appeal record, so you can file and argue your own appeal with real evidence.
See the DIY Appeal KitsWhat the homeowners said
Why a homeowner goes to the paper. Here is what they said.
In this clip, John Duggan talks about the news coverage of his appeals and the strain of an assessment that kept rising far faster than the area around it. In January 2026, after BC Assessment told him his value was going up 45% again, he wrote to the Premier, and the Cowichan Valley Citizen covered it.1
The Review Panel set his 2026 value back at $1,100,000, down from $1,592,600. Across 3 years, his assessments came down $1,308,000.2
"I don't have a problem paying our fair share. I just don't think we need to be paying far above what we should."
John Duggan, Youbou
Reduced $1,308,000 over 3 years, saving approximately $6,540 in property tax.
Appeal Nos. 2024-04-00009 and 2025-04-00051, and the 2026 Property Assessment Review Panel
"If it's wrong, it's wrong."
John Duggan, Youbou, on his message to the Premier, watch on YouTube
What the news reported
The first front page story. Here is what a Youbou homeowner told the Times Colonist.
Times Colonist, March 5, 2023, front page
Cowichan Lake property owners face steep assessment increases
"You have to reassess your life and see if you can still live in it."
Floyd Augustine, 85, a Youbou waterfront homeowner, quoted in the Times Colonist, March 5, 2023, on what happens when property taxes rise.3
BC Assessment had already met the reporter and sent over its data by March 1, 2023. The day after the story ran, the office that runs the Review Panel forwarded it to BC Assessment and Ministry staff.4
It was the first of 32 stories. Every one of them, and everywhere it ran, is below.
Highlights
From a Youbou waterfront story to front page news
February 10, 2024
Front page of the Times Colonist
Lake Cowichan residents win $10.5M in assessment reductions after appeals.
August 4, 2023
Province wide, from Today in BC
A fixed income senior's $12,000 tax bill on a waterlogged home, republished across BC.
January 22, 2024
The widest reach
An online platform to help those appealing BC property assessments, republished by more outlets than any other story.
Reporters covering BC property taxes can find the key documents, dates and figures in one place on the For Journalists page.
What the Ministry of Finance said
The Ministry of Finance was watching who was in the news.
"Mr. Holloway is well know for his concerns about how BCA is currently assessing property."
The Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator, Ministry of Finance, in an email, August 9, 2024, the day BC Assessment sent the Ministry a Black Press article quoting Derek Holloway and me. Released to me under freedom of information.5
The coverage the Ministry was reading
32
original news articles, 2023 to 2026
400+
times they ran, originals and republications
68
different news outlets across BC
Front page
of the Times Colonist, February 10, 2024
The Review Panel Administrator runs the panel that hears homeowners' complaints. He wrote that he had "already seen it through our daily news clippings as well as being sent it from BC Assessment staff."5 In my view, when the office that runs the hearings is reading the coverage every day, it was reaching the people it needed to reach. Every article is listed below.
What BC Assessment said
BC Assessment was watching the letters page, too.
"FYI...another Youbou letter to the editor to keep an eye out for."
BC Assessment's Policy Analyst, Government Relations, in an internal email to BC Assessment staff, May 4, 2023, forwarding a homeowner's letter to the Lake Cowichan Gazette. Released to me under freedom of information.6
What happened to that letter
8:21 am
the letter was emailed around BC Assessment that morning
8:41 am
the area Deputy Assessor forwarded it on
8:50 am
it was flagged to keep an eye out for
Ministry
staff planned to ask the Ministry of Finance whether it would respond
The letter was from Jeffrey Anderson, a Youbou waterfront homeowner, "Letter: Assessment appeal process not fair," published May 4, 2023 and copied to the Minister of Finance and newspapers across Vancouver Island. BC Assessment's staff noted that he had gone to the Review Panel on his own and then joined the group at the Appeal Board. His neighbours wrote that same week: Wendy and Byron Webb, "Letter: What is the purpose of BC Assessment?" on May 3, and Mick Farup, "Letter: BC Assessment seems to hope we give up" on May 5. In my view, when a single letter to the editor sets off a chain of emails inside BC Assessment within half an hour, homeowners can see who was reading.
What the BC Assessment whistleblower said
A BC Assessment insider read the coverage and picked up the phone.
"One of the things I read in the article is they were given some feedback about BC Assessment saying '98% of the property owners were happy with their assessed values'."
The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call, May 2023. The transcript was sent to the Appeal Board on May 11, 2023, and later released by the Ministry of Finance under freedom of information.7
What the coverage set in motion
100+
homeowners called me in the first 3 months of 2023, after reading about Youbou
1
of those calls came from inside BC Assessment
98%
of owners happy with their values, the claim in print he called to answer
Less than 2%
of properties appealed in a usual year, the figure he said that claim was built on
His answer was that usually fewer than 2% of properties are appealed in a year, and that BC Assessment had turned that into a claim about who was happy. In his words: "Now they want to twist it and say 98% of the people are happy with their assessment."7
Without the coverage, that call never happens. More of what he said, checked against the record, is on The BC Assessment Whistleblower Files.
A note on the record
Every story here was written between 2023 and 2026, about the previous government and the people in these roles at the time. The new government starts with the full coverage in front of it.
What a new government could do: When a story raises a problem, answer the homeowner's question as well as the reporter's, and correct the public record when the numbers change.
Every story started with one homeowner checking their value. Will you?
Start with your address and see how your BC Assessment compares to what homes like yours actually sold for.
Check My PropertySources
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, Robert Barron, January 20, 2026, "Youbou property owner appeals to premier over house assessment."
- Property Assessment Appeal Board, Appeal Nos. 2024-04-00009 and 2025-04-00051; BC Assessment pre-assessment notice, December 5, 2025; 2026 Property Assessment Review Panel decision. Listed as A-36 on my BC Assessment Appeal Record.
- Times Colonist, "Cowichan Lake property owners face steep assessment increases," March 5, 2023, front page; a copy is held in Ministry of Finance FOI file FIN-2025-52395. Read the article
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, page 315 (BC Assessment meets the Times Colonist reporter, by March 1, 2023) and page 899 (the front page story forwarded, March 6, 2023).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 946 to 948: email from BC Assessment staff to the Ministry of Finance, "Black Press Article," and replies from the Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator, August 9, 2024.
- BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-10, page 136: internal email from BC Assessment's Policy Analyst, Government Relations, "FW: BC Assessment," May 4, 2023, forwarding an email from the Deputy Assessor, Residential Vancouver Island.
- The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded telephone call with me, May 2023; transcript sent to the Property Assessment Appeal Board on May 11, 2023, and released in Ministry of Finance FOI file FIN-2025-52395.
My Record: January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026
$22.6M+
cut from the values BC Assessment put on homeowners' properties
My 3 largest reductions for a homeowner: $2,063,000, $1,954,000 and $1,438,000
$110K+
in estimated property tax refunds and credits for homeowners
My 3 largest estimated refunds or credits for a homeowner: $10,315, $9,770 and $7,190
40
homeowners I helped appeal their BC Assessment
100% won a reduction. The average homeowner had approximately $566,000 taken off their value and an estimated $2,800 back in property tax.
63
appeals won, out of the 65 those homeowners took to a decision
97% won, at BC Assessment, the Review Panel and the Appeal Board
91%
of written Appeal Board decisions, made by an independent adjudicator, lowered the value
30 of the 33 that went that far
7,079
Vancouver Island home sales I checked against their BC Assessment
Less than 1% were assessed at what they sold for, and 40% were assessed above it
32
news stories about the appeals I helped with
Run more than 400 times in 68 news outlets across BC
23
freedom of information requests to BC Assessment for its records
$11,047.06 in fees BC Assessment estimated to release them. I paid $30 in total, after fee waiver requests on public interest and hardship grounds.
Are You Overassessed?
When BC Assessment gets your home's value wrong, I prove what it is actually worth using real sales of similar homes, so you don't pay more property tax than your fair share.
Jason Anson
I am not a lawyer or an appraiser, and nothing on this site should be considered legal or tax advice. When I help you, you are still the appellant and you file your own appeal. Every result depends on the evidence for that property, and the decision belongs to the Property Assessment Review Panel or the Property Assessment Appeal Board, not to me. My past results do not predict yours, and I cannot guarantee any outcome.
Helping homeowners with property assessment appeals is not a licensed activity in the province of British Columbia. It is not regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) or the Real Estate Services Act, and it is not considered a real estate service.
I am also a licensed real estate agent with eXp Realty. That work gives me my experience in valuation and market movement, which is the evidence of market value the Review Panel and the Appeal Board weigh. This site and my appeal work are completely separate from eXp Realty. They are not affiliated with, endorsed by or provided through my brokerage, and the views here are my own, not eXp Realty's.
What I write about BC Assessment, the Property Assessment Review Panel, the Property Assessment Appeal Board, the Minister and Ministry of Finance, and the other public offices on this site is my own opinion, and I consider it fair comment on a matter of public interest. My opinions are my honest views, marked as my view, and based on facts anyone can check: Appeal Board decisions, public records and records released under freedom of information. Quotes from documents and news stories are the words of the people quoted. If anything here is inaccurate, let me know and I will correct it.