For some time now, a small but vocal group of writers have tried to convince the base of libertarians and conservatives that a carbon tax is actually consistent with their principles. Although I disagree with their arguments, I'm happy to have such a debate, as I think the case against a carbon tax is very strong.
However, what I find disheartening are more recent attempts to hijack the legacies of deceased libertarians in order to bolster support for a carbon tax, even though these icons would probably recoil from this association of their names with the proposal.
The latest example is Ed Dolan's recent essay for the Niskanen Center that argued Friedrich Hayek would have supported a carbon tax. As I will show, there is no foundation for such a claim; in fact Dolan himself admits that Hayek never wrote on the issue. Beyond that, I'll providence evidence that Hayek was skeptical of top-down correctives from government officials as a way to address negative externalities.
