As the time closes in for the Budget in mid-March, the question on the mind of everyone is: will we get a lower tax rate? For most of the people watching, the budget doesn't begin until the finance minister says "tax slabs" and ends immediately thereafter. But the underlying assumption for lowering direct taxes is that a lower tax rate will result in greater compliance with more taxpayers coming forth to pay; the overall result being that tax collections increase.

While this has happened in general, the tax collections have been very low this year, despite large slab changes in the last budget. The total tax receipts have gone up only 7% till December, making it a pretty bad year — only 2008 and 2009 were worse. It is thus likely that the government starts to take a hard look at where they must cut down the deficit, and they provide an estimate of "Revenue Foregone" under various proposals.

Let's take a look at the "losses" that the government faces through lower taxes or tariffs on

The three reasons people buy insurance is:

a) To save tax.

b) As an investment, to make a good return on their money.

c) To feel good that one has some insurance or to get rid of that pesky uncle who keeps mentioning it.

The fourth — and perhaps most important — reason to buy insurance is to let your family be financially secure if you die. This is the only reason anything should be insured. Car insurance gives you money if your car has an accident, and covers costs for people you might injure. Home Fire insurance covers the damages in case there's a fire. You pay every year, and you're happy to not have to claim (because it means you've not had an accident or a fire!); and at the end, you don't get your money back.

Not so with Life insurance. The most policies bought are for the purpose of saving or investing, not for insurance. And that, further, is because Life Insurance is hardly ever bought, it's sold. The sellers get a fatter commission when they sell you a "saving" product, so

In 1973, the Kreditbanken (bank) at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm was attacked by robbers, who held bank employees hostage for five days. After the drama, it was evident that the hostages sympathized with their captors, even though they were held against their will. The situation is now considered an academic study — the Stockholm Syndrome — where people get emotionally attached to people who obviously try to do them harm.

More apparent, perhaps was the case of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was held for 18 long years — from 1991 to 2009 — but got so emotionally attached to her abductor that she even helped him in his business and met customers. Being an unwilling hostage, or in other cases, just being in an unwelcome situation with no way out, makes us rationalize in favour of our position.

Less dramatically, we become hostage to our own opinion. We simply can't let go of what we believe is "normal", even in the face of facts. If your blood tests show you have a high cholesterol level, your