Income Redistribution Day has arrived. It’s a day reminding all Americans that too much of our hard-earned money is collected by a behemoth government known for fiscal carelessness and irresponsibility. Just take a look at the ever-ballooning national debt. And yet here we are again, feeding the beast whose appetite seemingly knows no limit.

It is indeed ironic that one of the biggest sparks igniting the fires of the American Revolution was the contentious subject of taxation. While most celebrate the spirit of those Bostonians who famously protested the British crown’s Tea Act of 1773, many Americans today seem content to merely utter a few grumbles over our tax burden. And this is done while also wondering if everyone else has paid their “fair share” rather than challenging the government’s plunder for the express purpose of wealth redistribution.

In fact, the question of taxes has historically been one of the largest distinctions between the two major political parties. Democrats always demand more, believing that the government is entitled to as much money as it can get — in fact, they treat Americans’ income as government’s money in the first place, with any tax cuts being something they simply can’t afford. On the other hand, Republicans continuously work to varying degrees of tax reductions. And with the election of Donald Trump, the fundamental party distinction has held true. Trump has called for tax cuts across the board, particularly lowering the world’s highest corporate tax rate. Unfortunately, the House Republicans’ fumble on repealing and replacing ObamaCare has hindered Trump’s tax reform effort.

Taxes are not merely a means of paying for the government’s many obligations and programs, they are a means of control. Leftists view taxes as a sort of punishment on the wealthy and successful for the crime of being wealthy and successful. The Left’s goal is not equal opportunity but equal outcome. Those who excel are deemed to have excelled by exploiting others, and therefore they should suffer by being forced to “contribute” more to all the government does to make things right. What an utterly distorted view.

In reality, we need a simple tax system that fairly extracts taxes without showing favoritism or deference to class distinctions, and constitutional restraints on the spending of that revenue. Anything less only creates opportunity for those in government to exploit various socio-economic groups for their own aims.