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We need to find out what caused the crisis and learn valuable lessons to avoid further unnecessary deaths.
But what happens when we discover the government is responsible for the suicide?
And then, chillingly, we find out that there have been more suicides, all caused by the same government department.
It may sound like some sort of slick high-concept thriller, but it is happening right now in real time.
And it could be happening to some of your clients.
I am talking about the loan charge, or what the Treasury calls the ‘disguised remuneration loan charge’.
It is a fee that HM Revenue & Customs is charging thousands of people who used a tax avoidance scheme from the late 1990s.
Under the scheme, workers were paid by way of a loan instead of a salary.
The arrangements were intended to avoid tax and national insurance contributions for the employee.
They have now been rightfully banned, but the current crisis for the thousands of workers who used the schemes began in 2016 when then chancellor George Osborne took action in his 2016 Budget.
He outlawed the schemes and brought in the loan charge to recoup tax going back 20 years.
There is no argument that the government was right to crack down on the schemes, but the retrospective nature of the loan charge has proved to be extremely controversial.
That is because it is hitting people who had no idea the government may want to claw tax back from them.
Sure, many of the freelancers, contractors or agency staff who used them may have known exactly what was happening.
I have been freelance for much of my career, but have always been careful to steer clear of anything that even vaguely sniffed of tax avoidance.
And please do not start bleating about Isas or their previous incarnations Tessas or Peps being tax avoidance schemes – they are no such things.
They were set up by the government to encourage savings. In short, they are government-backed tax planning.
But I can understand why many folk leapt at the chance to get one over the tax authorities.
The problem is, I believe the majority of people were pushed into these schemes and were simply told they were legal.
In short, they were told it would be financially foolish to not take advantage of the opportunity.
You may scoff, but my experience tells me that the majority of folk do not really understand their finances or even like to think too much about them.
If their accountant advises them to do something, they do it; after all, the expert should know.
And while the schemes appeared to be a loophole that the Treasury knew about but did not act upon, it is natural that the experts took this to mean tacit agreement.
I believe many people simply followed the advice they were given.
Some had no choice because their employers, including many public sector employers, insisted on trust-loan arrangements as a condition of employment.
After the Treasury crackdown announced in 2016, they were stunned to suddenly get a tax demand for money they had no idea they owed.
FTAdviser recently reported that Paul Hornby, managing director of accountancy firm JF Hornby, said HMRC’s action over the charge had left low-paid workers lumped with six-figure tax bills.
“Nurses, teachers and public sector workers, along with many people who worked as freelancers, are finding themselves in unimaginable situations,” he said.
“It is affecting people who should be looking ahead to retirement, but instead are wondering how they will ever manage to pay back what the taxman claims is his.”
The previous week the Loan Charge Action Group, which was set up to help victims of the fee, claimed that at least five more contractors – on top of six existing suicides known to have been caused by the charge – are on the verge of killing themselves.
Two weeks ago, chancellor Sajid Javid commissioned an independent review of the charge because of “concerns that have been raised about the policy”.
It is a policy that has hounded people to their death and must be rescinded, in my view.
The daughter of one victim told the BBC earlier this year that the prime minister should make dealing with the tragedies a top priority.
When asked why, she said: “Because he can save lives. By halting it he can save lives.”
That is a powerful call for action, but while we wait for the government’s independent enquiry to publish recommendations promised by mid-November, thousands will be left in serious financial turmoil and may be embracing dark thoughts.
If any of your clients are victims, I urge you to offer support and help.
Simon Read is a freelance journalist
