Fund Early Education With Tobacco Taxes: An Interesting Longshot

"This is a good step to help low and moderate-income families," said Helen Blank, director of child care and early learning for the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C. "You get a double benefit - there's higher quality pre-K, and research shows (the tax increase) can reduce smoking in older children."

One criticism of the tobacco tax is that it will unfairly target lower-income consumers, who also make up a larger percentage of smokers. As the Washington Post reported, adult smokers had a median household income of $27,000 in 2011, compared to $45,761 for non-smokers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. But Blank said that's not a valid reason to block the tax. "We know smoking isn't good for people," Blank told me. "You're not taxing essentials they need. You're taxing an activity that has incredibly bad health effects for children and families."