Actually, in the story, it was more like, “Take from the government and give to the taxpayer.” He stole from wealthy government princes and officials and corrupt church officials, and gave to working poor people.
Maybe I have it wrong in the actual historical context. But the phrase is used in the Marxist idiom today. I just Googled it and got 12,400,000 hits! The original history and meaning of the story have been lost. What is the favorite Democrat term of scorn and derision? “The rich.”