The Minister of Finance for British Columbia is responsible for BC Assessment. This page is my record of what I sent the Minister about it, what came back, and what the Ministry of Finance told the Minister about me.
What was the Minister of Finance told about BC Assessment?
An outdated number. For 16 months, the Ministry of Finance's Issue Notes told the Minister of Finance that the Youbou Appeal Group's reductions were $10.5 million,1 after I had written to the Minister with reductions in 37 of 40 appeals and more than $15 million.2 The total has since passed $22.6 million.
I wrote to the Minister of Finance 4 times between 2023 and 2025, about how BC Assessment and the Review Panel treated homeowners, and whether the Review Panel is independent. The Ministry of Finance's own records show each reply was sent to the Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator to draft or edit, the official whose Review Panel my letters were about.3 In September 2026, I sent the Minister my Vancouver Island audit. It received only an automatic reply.4
The Premier's office had sent John Duggan's letter here. This is the second stop on the road, and it is where the answer to every complaint was written: "the process is working."
5
letters I sent the Minister of Finance, 2023 to 2026, including my 2026 audit
16 months
of Issue Notes briefing the Minister on me
$10.5M
the outdated figure the Minister kept being given
$22.6M+
in assessment reductions on my record today
Letter by letter
What I sent the Minister of Finance, and what came back
May 17, 2023
The Review Panel hearing
What I sent
The Review Panel had 11.5 hours for the Youbou Appeal Group's 23 complaints and confirmed the assessments after 1.5. I asked the Minister to look into BC Assessment and the Review Panel.
What came back
The Minister's Office would not comment on appeals before the Appeal Board, but said it had asked the Review Panel office "to review how property assessment complaints made by agents or others representing groups of property owners are addressed and heard."5
April 8, 2024
An urgent call for review and reform
What I sent
Reductions in 37 of 40 appeals, more than $15 million, and a request for an independent review before the Appeal Board deadline.2
What came back
On June 4, 2024, the Minister's Office said it had no comment on the Appeal Board decisions beyond that the appeal system is working as designed.6
March 28, 2025
Who sets the rules for BC Assessment
What I sent
A request for clarification on whether any policy governs BC Assessment staff asking real estate licensees about a buyer's intent. "This is not a complaint."
What came back
The Deputy Minister of Finance replied on May 15, 2025 that the Ministry of Finance, "while responsible for BCA, does not set out detailed policy level directives or provide oversight that you refer to in your letter."7
May 5, 2025
Is the Review Panel independent?
What I sent
7 sets of questions on the Review Panel's office, staffing, training, systems and budget, and how many of its members used to work for BC Assessment.
What came back
The reply in the release is an undated draft. It says approximately 10 Review Panel members previously worked for BC Assessment. What the Ministry said about my letter internally is below.8
September 14, 2026
The Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit
What I sent
My 2026 Vancouver Island audit: 7,079 home sales compared with what BC Assessment said each home was worth. BC Assessment's value matched the sale price on 63, less than 1%. The Minister was also 1 of the 15 Vancouver Island MLAs I asked whether homeowners paid a "fair share" of the 2026 property tax, yes or no.
What came back
An automatic reply. No answer to the audit or the question.4
Where it was sent: every reply went through the Review Panel Administrator, the office my letters were about, and BC Assessment was kept informed.3 The audit went no further at all.
How the Minister was briefed
For 16 months, the Ministry of Finance briefed the Minister of Finance on me
An Issue Note is a confidential briefing written for the Minister, headed "Advice to Minister", with the responses the Minister should give if asked about an issue. In 2024, the Ministry of Finance wrote and kept updating an Issue Note for the Minister of Finance about the Youbou appeals. It named me as the citizen spokesperson for the homeowners, and it recorded my book, my website and my appeal service.1 Here is how it unfolded in the Ministry of Finance's own records.9
- April 28, 2023The Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator, who works inside the Ministry of Finance, warned Ministry of Finance staff that complaints about the Review Panel and BC Assessment were coming from me and the Youbou homeowners, and asked to be told of any letters about me. The Director of Strategic Policy was copied.
- July 8, 2023The Review Panel Administrator sent the Director of Strategic Policy, BC Assessment and the provincial government's communications staff a newspaper article about my complaint that BC Assessment was withholding its inspection manuals.
- January 8, 2024The Director of Strategic Policy sent the Review Panel Administrator a newspaper story about BC Assessment offering to cut a Honeymoon Bay assessment in half. The Review Panel Administrator replied that BC Assessment contested some of the homeowner's claims.
- March 6, 2024The Ministry of Finance's Issue Note told the Minister of Finance that the Youbou Appeal Group had a cumulative reduction of $10.5 million, and gave the Minister the line that the outcome "shows the process is working."
- April 8, 2024I wrote to the Minister of Finance: reductions in 37 of 40 appeals, a 92.5% success rate, and more than $15 million in reductions. The Review Panel Administrator forwarded my letter to BC Assessment the same day.2
- May 16, 2024The updated Issue Note still told the Minister $10.5 million.
- August 16 to 20, 2024The Issue Note was updated again, still at $10.5 million, and approved by an Acting Executive Director at the Ministry of Finance.
- August 21, 2024The Director of Strategic Policy wrote to Ministry of Finance staff that I was not as successful in appeals as I made out. That email is on my BC Assessment Appeal Record, next to the record that answers it.10 The Review Panel Administrator replied that I "continue to get media attention", and the article was sent on to be added to the Minister's Issue Note.
- August 26, 2024The Review Panel Administrator sent the Director of Strategic Policy and other Ministry of Finance staff an Appeal Board decision that confirmed a single Youbou assessment, calling it 1 of the "higher profile Youbou appeals with some media attention and focus from Mr. Anson."
The $10.5 million
Where the $10.5 million came from, and why it was out of date
It was my number. On February 9, 2024, I put out a press release with the Appeal Board results,11 and the Times Colonist reported it the next day. I released it too quickly. The Appeal Board had not finished updating its records, and it had made an entry error on a single appeal. The Board corrected it, that homeowner won too, and the Appeal Board total went over $11 million. The $10.5 million was also only the Appeal Board wins. It never counted the homeowners who won before the Board, at the Review Panel or by email to BC Assessment.
Here is the gap. My 37 of 40 counted everyone, and the Ministry of Finance's own March 2024 Issue Note counts the same group the same way: 15 early offers, and 22 of the remaining 25 owners offered reductions. That is 37 of 40. Yet the Ministry of Finance took that early, Appeal Board only number and kept giving it to the Minister of Finance, even after my April letter. The results kept climbing as each appeal was decided, and the Minister was still being given the old number.1
My view
My view, point blank
The Minister of Finance was not getting good information. The answer the Minister was given was that the outcome "shows the process is working." In my view, the people in these records were working on the Youbou appeals behind the scenes, and not once did any of them sit down with me to fix the problem. Nothing in the Ministry of Finance's records shows the problem being fixed while that government was in office.
A staff member told the Ministry I was not as successful as I made out. The record says otherwise: every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction.
The Issue Notes on this page were written in 2024, when the Minister of Finance was Katrine Conroy. British Columbia elected a new government on October 24, 2026. In my view, the Minister of Finance deserved the full record, not an outdated number. That is why I am putting it in public, so anyone can check it, including the Minister. The Property Assessment Appeal Board, an independent tribunal, decided 33 of the appeals I helped with, and 30 of those decisions reduced the assessment. The total has passed $22.6 million, and every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction. Every result is listed with its Appeal Board file number on my BC Assessment Appeal Record. The record speaks for itself. Check any of it.
What the homeowners said
The Ministry of Finance runs the home owner grant. Here is what an overassessment cost a Youbou owner.
Andy Ross was a Youbou waterfront homeowner. In 2023, the Appeal Board confirmed the value on his home at $2,340,000. In this clip, he says that value put him over the threshold for the provincial home owner grant. He kept going.
Across 4 appeals on his home and his lot, from 2023 to 2025, his assessments came down $815,500.12
"...if you don't stand up for yourself, nobody else will."
Andy Ross, Youbou
Reduced $815,500 over 4 appeals, saving approximately $4,078 in property tax.
Appeal Nos. 2023-04-00106, 2023-04-00107, 2024-04-00073, 2024-04-00074, 2025-04-00064
What the news reported
While the Minister was being briefed, the government's own news digest carried the story.
Vancouver Island Free Daily, February 13, 2024
Vancouver Island homeowners trying to break a cycle of over-assessment
"This approach is a conscientious effort to break the cycle of over assessment and achieve a fair taxation system based on accurate property assessments."
Jason Anson, quoted in the Vancouver Island Free Daily, February 13, 2024, on the Youbou holding appeals.13
The story ran in the government communications morning news digest the next day, and the Ministry of Finance kept it in its files. 20 Youbou homeowners had filed holding appeals for 2024 while they waited for the Appeal Board to decide 2023. 3 weeks later, the March 6, 2024 Issue Note gave the Minister $10.5 million.1
Every story about these appeals, and everywhere it ran, is on News Features.
What the Ministry of Finance said
I asked the Minister whether the Review Panel is independent. Inside the Ministry, an answer was seen as fuel to the fire.
"Unfortunately, while he is speaking to two issues that we should not be responding to, his third includes a new set of questions which I we can respond to. Although it may just provide fuel to the fire."
The Property Assessment Review Panel Administrator, Ministry of Finance, in an internal email to Ministry staff and the Ministry's Executive Director, May 6, 2025, the day after my letter to the Minister of Finance. Released to me under freedom of information.8
"Fuel to the fire"? Here is what my letter asked
7
sets of questions about how independent the Review Panel is from BC Assessment
Drafter
the reply was assigned to the Review Panel Administrator, the official whose office my questions were about
10
approximately, the number of Review Panel members who previously worked for BC Assessment, according to the draft reply
Undated
the reply in the release is a draft dated "Month Day, Year"
My letter asked where the Review Panel's office is, who staffs it, who trains its members, what systems it shares with BC Assessment and how many of its members used to work there. Those are reasonable questions for the Minister responsible for the Review Panel. In my view, they deserved an answer, not a worry about fuel to the fire.
What BC Assessment said
BC Assessment set the hearing schedule for my Review Panel appeals, then asked the Ministry's Review Panel Administrator to approve it.
"Ok with this? If so, our Admin will send him the confirmation email with the schedule shortly."
A BC Assessment staff member, in an email to the Review Panel Administrator at the Ministry of Finance, February 22, 2023, sending the schedule BC Assessment had organized for my appeals. Released to me under freedom of information.14
Here is how the Review Panel replied
"Works for me."
the Review Panel Administrator's reply to BC Assessment
23
Youbou complaints scheduled for my group
February 27, 2023
the hearing day, when the panel confirmed the assessments and sent the appeals on to the Appeal Board
The Review Panel is the tribunal that decides between a homeowner and BC Assessment, and the Ministry of Finance oversees it. In my view, a party to the dispute should not be setting the other side's hearing schedule and asking the tribunal's administrator for approval.
From the inside
The BC Assessment whistleblower said BC Assessment worked with government on how appeals are heard
"BC Assessment aligned with the government on how to do your online appeals. Which is ok but they took away that in person panel meeting and that is problematic for some people because they like to have eye contact and see what kind of feedback they are getting in the live panel."
The BC Assessment whistleblower, recorded call, May 2023 (FOI transcript).15
23
Youbou complaints at a single Review Panel hearing, scheduled by BC Assessment14
1.5
hours, of the 11.5 scheduled, before the panel confirmed the assessments5
91
of the 205 Ministry of Finance records about me involve the Review Panel Administrator16
The Ministry of Finance runs the Review Panel. In my view, that is one more reason the Minister needed the full record, not an outdated number.
The Process Is Working Files
What the Minister was told, and what the records show
The Ministry of Finance's own records, released to me under freedom of information, 1 story at a time. You can read them all in The Process Is Working Files.
Ministry of Finance file FIN-2025-52395
6 storiesThe briefings
What the Minister of Finance was told about the Youbou appeals, and the numbers that were left out.
- BC Assessment complaints reached the Minister of Finance as an "Issue Note." Here is what it told the Minister
- Who fact checked the Minister of Finance's briefing on BC Assessment appeals? The Review Panel's own Administrator
- 37 of 40 BC Assessment appeals reduced. The Minister of Finance was told $10.5 million and "the process is working"
- "Wasn't quite as successful as he made out": what the Appeal Board record says about the Youbou BC Assessment appeals
- "It has run its course": how the Ministry of Finance decided a BC Assessment story on the Times Colonist front page needed nothing for the Minister
- "How many letters" from 1 advocate? The Ministry of Finance counted my BC Assessment letters before deciding whether to reply
Ministry of Finance file FIN-2025-52395
7 storiesThe Review Panel
How the Review Panel, which the Ministry runs, handled the complaints about BC Assessment and about itself.
- A homeowner advocate complained to the Minister about BC Assessment and the Review Panel. The next day it went to BC Assessment marked "FYI"
- "Ok with this?" BC Assessment drew up the Review Panel schedule for 23 homeowners, and the Review Panel said "Works for me"
- 11.5 hours booked, 1.5 used: what happened to 23 Youbou complaints at the BC Assessment Review Panel
- "Fuel to the fire": why the Ministry hesitated to answer questions on how independent the Review Panel is from BC Assessment
- Approximately 10 Review Panel members used to work for BC Assessment. What the Ministry's draft reply said
- "I googled him": how the Review Panel office kept track of a homeowner advocate who questioned BC Assessment
- Who oversees BC Assessment? The Deputy Minister of Finance said the Ministry does not provide that oversight
Where this leads
The Minister was told "the process is working." Here is where the record goes next.
The Minister of Finance is responsible for BC Assessment and runs the Review Panel, so complaints about both ended up with the same Ministry, and the replies went through the office they were about. These are the 3 offices that answer to the Legislature, not to the Minister.
The numbers
The Information and Privacy Commissioner
The Minister was given an outdated $10.5 million for 16 months. BC Assessment tells the public 99% accept their assessments as "fair and accurate," and its own survey asking homeowners is blacked out. That file is at inquiry.17
The CommissionerThe roll
The Auditor General
The Deputy Minister wrote that the Ministry does not provide the oversight I asked about. In my view, if the Ministry responsible for BC Assessment does not check the roll, someone independent should.
The Auditor GeneralThe treatment
The Ombudsperson
Complaints about the Review Panel were answered by the Review Panel's own Administrator. The Deputy Minister pointed me to BC Assessment's Chief Executive Officer, its Board Chair or the Ombudsperson.7
The OmbudspersonCommon questions
About the Minister of Finance and BC Assessment
Which ministries oversee the Review Panel and the Appeal Board?
The Minister of Finance. BC Assessment's mandate letter comes from the Minister of Finance,18 and in BC Assessment's own words, "the Ministry of Finance oversees PARP," the Property Assessment Review Panel.19 The Property Assessment Appeal Board sits with the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Can the Minister of Finance change my BC Assessment?
No. Your value is changed through an appeal, at the Review Panel or the Appeal Board. When I wrote to the Minister of Finance, the Minister's Office said it could not comment on appeals before the Appeal Board.5 If your assessment looks wrong, the appeal is the route, and the deadline matters.
What is an Issue Note?
An Issue Note is a confidential briefing written for a Minister, headed "Advice to Minister," with the responses the Minister should give if asked about an issue. The Ministry of Finance wrote and updated one about the Youbou appeals throughout 2024. I only saw it through freedom of information.1
Who is really here to help
The Minister of Finance will not check your assessment for you
The Minister of Finance is responsible for BC Assessment, and the Minister's Office will not comment on your appeal. If your value looks wrong, it is up to you to find the error and prove it. That is why I built my own tools, backed by real sales and the decisions on my BC Assessment Appeal Record, where every homeowner I personally helped who saw their appeal through won a reduction. 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 Guides
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 GuidesStraight answers
The questions homeowners ask most, answered from the record, from how your home is valued to what happens at a hearing.
Get Straight AnswersThe Review Panel
How the first level of your appeal works, what the panel reads and how to prepare for your hearing.
Prepare for the Review PanelThe Appeal Board
How to take your appeal to the independent tribunal that decided 33 of my appeals and reduced the assessment in 30 (91%).
Prepare for the Appeal BoardA note on the record
The briefings on this page were written for the Minister of Finance in the previous government. The new Minister has a fresh start, and this record is here to help. The Minister was also 1 of the 15 Vancouver Island MLAs I sent my audit to, and none of them answered. The Legislative Assembly is the next stop on the record.
What a new government could do: Brief the Minister with complete, current results, and have complaints about the Review Panel answered by an office other than the Review Panel.
The Minister of Finance won't check your assessment. Will you?
Start with your address and see how your BC Assessment compares to what homes like yours actually sold for.
Check My PropertySources
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: Issue Notes headed "Advice to Minister" for the Minister of Finance, dated March 6, 2024 (pages 684 to 686), May 16, 2024 (pages 940 to 941) and August 16, 2024 (pages 955 to 957), and the August 21, 2024 email confirming approval (page 962).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 262 to 264 and 936 to 937: my April 8, 2024 letter to the Minister of Finance, forwarded by the Review Panel Administrator to BC Assessment the same day.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: page 609 (May 31, 2023), page 657 (June 4, 2024), page 635 (April 16, 2025) and pages 1027 to 1029 (May 13, 2025), showing each reply sent to the Review Panel Administrator to draft or edit.
- My letters of September 11 and 14, 2026 to the Minister of Finance and the 15 Vancouver Island MLAs, with my Vancouver Island Tax Roll Audit 2026, and the automatic reply from the Minister's office.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: my May 17, 2023 email to the Minister of Finance (pages 7 to 8 and 531 to 532) and the Minister's Office reply, Ref 501464, June 7, 2023 (page 252).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: the Minister's Office reply, Ref 507604, June 4, 2024 (page 265), and the approval log (pages 657 to 658).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: my March 28, 2025 letter (pages 636 to 640) and the Deputy Minister of Finance's reply, Ref 513030, May 15, 2025 (pages 285 to 286).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: my May 5, 2025 letter to the Minister of Finance (pages 623 to 626), the Review Panel Administrator's email of May 6, 2025 (pages 1025 to 1026; the same email at pages 620 to 621 has this sentence blacked out) and the Minister's Office draft reply, Ref 513725, undated (pages 287 to 288).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: pages 328 and 897 to 898 (April 28 and 30, 2023), 902 to 903 (July 8, 2023), 931 to 933 (January 8, 2024), 958 and 962 to 963 (August 21, 2024), and 967 (August 26, 2024).
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, page 958: email from the Director of Strategic Policy to the Acting Executive Director, copied to the Review Panel Administrator, August 21, 2024; pages 962 to 963: the article forwarded the same day to be added to the Issue Note.
- My February 9, 2024 press release, "Board Orders $10.5 Million in Reductions for Cowichan Lake Residents", reported by the Times Colonist, "Lake Cowichan residents win $10.5M in assessment reductions after appeals," February 10, 2024. The Ministry of Finance had a copy in its own files: FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 4 to 6.
- Andy Ross, video "you run once," https://youtu.be/mnC3TRvZGkc; Property Assessment Appeal Board, Appeal Nos. 2023-04-00106, 2023-04-00107, 2024-04-00073, 2024-04-00074 and 2025-04-00064, and the 2024 Property Assessment Review Panel.
- Vancouver Island Free Daily, Robert Barron, "Vancouver Island homeowners trying to break a cycle of over-assessment," February 13, 2024; also published by the Victoria News; a copy is held in Ministry of Finance FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 736 to 737, in the government communications morning news digest.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395, pages 310 to 311: email from BC Assessment to the Review Panel Administrator, and his reply, February 22, 2023.
- 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.
- Ministry of Finance, FOI file FIN-2025-52395: the Review Panel Administrator is a sender or recipient on 91 of the 205 records in the release, 27 of them with BC Assessment.
- BC Assessment, More than 99% of Property Owners Agree with their 2025 Assessments, news release, April 16, 2025; BC Assessment, FOI file 2025-34, response of March 25, 2026; Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, file INV-F-26-01006, moved to inquiry, October 2026.
- BC Assessment, 2025/26 to 2027/28 Service Plan, March 2025, including the mandate letter from the Minister of Finance.
- Cowichan Valley Citizen, "Youbou property owners frustrated with appeal process," May 19, 2023, quoting BC Assessment's Assessor for Vancouver Island.
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.