Starting a small business will provide basic needs such as education, food, shelter and clothing. Government can then use the revenue from VAT to provide access to clean water, power, sanitation and roads. This is a most effective partnership to reduce poverty. At the same time, we can do a lot to avoid paying VAT.
We can encourage our people to better use the resources around us like land and the sea to provide food for our families. I know from my own experience, that leisure appears to be more important than work in many of our villages.